Activities throughout the years
Professor Michal Kohout, a distinguished Czech Architect and Professor will describe the challenges of Housing Estates in his two books "Housing Estates, what's next" and "Collective Housing a Spatial Typology". The lecture will be followed by an open Discussion.
Michal Kohout, 1964*Architect, teacher, and theorist, he is Head of the Building Theory Institute at the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University, Prague; he is also is in charge of a course on housing and a design course at the same school. He has designed and co-designed dozens of projects, more than 30 of which were built and some received numerous Czech national as well as international awards and were presented at exhibitions of Czech and international architecture. He is registered with the Czech Chamber of Architects, is a co-founder of the UNIT architekti studio, the Centre for Housing Quality research organization, and Zlatý řez publishers (since 1992), where he is a co-editor of a magazine of the same name.
As a writer and editor, he has published a number of books and articles on modern Czech architecture – Bohemia: Modern Architecture (2014), Moravia and Silezia: 20th Century Architecture (2005), Prague: 20th Century Architecture (1996), and housing and the theory of the built environment Housing Estates, what next? (2016), Collective Housing: A Spatial Typology (2015), My House, Our Street: Coordinated Development of Individual Housing (2014).
He is the head of many research projects and an expert on public and professional housing policy.
During the realisation of the project the first year students are involved into the process of creation of small architectural object using the tools of parametric modeling. The structure of pavilion is developed using Rhino+Grasshopper software. Students received ready CAD file indicating all the details and the way of their assembly in full scale. During the practical session students constructed the full-size model of the pavilion using cardboard. The participants were divided into 6 groups; each two of them constructed one pillar of the pavilion. At the last day all the details were assembled and the pavilion is exhibited in the building hall.
On 13th of April was held an open lecture by Mr. Eled Fagu, named: “Light and Space in Contemporary Architecture”. Mr. Eled Fagu is a young architect graduated with distinguished merits at the University of Florence in 2006. Actually he is contributing as a full time lecturer in the Polytechnic University of Tirana, holding a course in Architecture Theory and Design Studios. His research activity includes studies on contemporary architecture and urban design with a particular interest on modern architecture during totalitarism in Albania, where he is actually developing his doctoral thesis. During the years he has developed his praxis in architecture and urban design working on different projects as director and founder of E-Arch studio. In 2016 he was nominated for Aga Kahn Architecture Awards with the project of Flying Roof House and Polis University Building.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sokol Dervishi participated in the third meeting of The Erasmus + project “Knowledge for Resilient Society”- K-FORCE, took place on April 25th to 30th, 2017 in Alborg and Esbjerg, Denmark. The partners from Aalborg University in Denmark hosted the four-day event of the K-FORCE project. The first two working days (April 25th and 26th) took place in Aalborg campus, City of Aalborg while the other two working days took place in Esbjerg Campus, city of Esbjerg.
During the first day (April 25th, Aalborg Campus), reports on Western Balkan countries (WBC) needs for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Fire Safety Engineering (FSE) master programs and learning outcomes were discussed.
The agenda of the second day (April 26th Aalborg Campus), started with presentations on agreed modalities and the structure of b-learning material. In addition, employment opportunities after completing Master/ PhD in DRM & FSE were discussed (e.g. data on existing professional capacity in every country, job opportunities, any special conditions, certificates defined by the law). During the second day, modalities for training professional staff, university-industry/public bodies cooperation and special mobility strand scheme were discussed.
The agenda of the third day (April 27th, Esbjerg Campus), started with observing a lecture in a master program (MSc) in Risk and Safety Management on Systems Engineering.
In the last day of the K-FORCE study visit (April 28th, Esbjerg Campus), Prof. Michael Faber lectured a course on the topic of Systems Engineering, followed by discussions between the participants of the K-FORCE project.
Based on the Inter-Institutional Agreement between Epoka University and Polytechnic University of Bari (POLIBA), in Italy, two academic staff members of the Department of Architecture of Epoka University, lectured for one week at POLIBA, in the framework of the Erasmus+ Staff Exchange Programme.
Dr. Odeta Durmishi Manahasa and M. Arch. Manahasa were involved in the teaching activities addressed to the first and third year, as well as to the senior students of the Department of Civil Engineering Science and Architecture at POLIBA.
During this timeframe, Dr. Odeta Manahasa delivered lectures on the Basic Design and the potentials that it offers. Furthermore, she participated in the studio course and shared her experience. The curriculum of the Polytechnic University of Bari differs from the one that Epoka University is actually offering, hence a fruitful collaboration in terms of experience exchange is observed. M. Arch. Manahasa lectured on the Ottoman Architecture, upon the hosting institution’s interest. He explained early and late ottoman architecture and its specific features. The lecture was a good medium where students and lecturers discussed about the potentials of the history on the contemporary architecture. During the last session, Epoka University’s academic members visited the laboratory studios of the 5th year students that are in the graduation phase. Worth-mentioning is the fact that five students of Epoka University, who are preparing their thesis research phase at POLIBA, in the framework of the Erasmus+ Student Exchange Programme, were present the said laboratories. The hosted staff got introduced to the projects that POLIBA is carrying out in Albania, and witnessed a different perspective on the way the Polytechnic University of Bari implements the 5th year students’ research.
Study trip to Prizren
Within the framework of Arch 102 course “Introduction to Architectural Design”, the student of the first year visited Prizren city.
The final design project placed its focus on the questioning of how to deal with topography for improving the public life of a traditional city. The visit would bring the students closure to the real life of Prizren to developing an awareness towards the social, cultural, functional and formal components of traditionally built environments and acquiring a basic knowledge of traditionally used materials. Thus, trip as an integral part of the course aimed to stimulate student’s thoughts for creative result.
Study trip to Rome, Italy
Within the frame work of course Arch 222 “History of Art and Architecture II” a group of student’s made a three day study trip to Rome. There students got introduced with principal sites and museums in Rome and its environments. The trip, with the impossibility to cover all the layers of the history, flowed from ancient Rome to almost all the following centuries of the history. Whilst walking through the city, students had opportunity to encounter art and architecture of Rome. A visit to Pantheon, Vatican Museum and St. Peter's, churches and basilicas, and Piazzas with delightful baroque fountains are among the main spots reviewed by the students.
On April 18, 2017, Young Architects Club in collaboration with Architecture Department organized an Open Forum with a special guest: Mr. Guust Selhorst, an architect and urban designer from Belgium. Mr. Guust is part of the Belgian office “51N4E” which is currently dealing with the revitalization of the Scanderbeg Square, which was also the topic of this forum.
This project has raised many questions whether it is a good or bad decision.
At first, our guest showed some historical phases of Tirana and the changes that have occurred during these years. Then, he introduced the students with the project concept, where an important element are the stones collected from different places of Albania, which form a large square mosaic at a crucial point of Tirana. Furthermore, Mr. Guust went through details of the project, like the underground parking which has a capacity of 300 cars and it is 2-floors high. Also, he explained in the section how the slope in the pyramid-like proposal integrated with the parking ceiling.
After the presentation, students started a debate with questions and answers with Mr. Guust. So basically, not only Architecture students but also Civil Engineering students who were present there, found this topic quite interesting because it involved the presentation of a project which affect them directly since they will be the ones to use it. Mr. Guust also shared some of his experience, the problems that he faced during a major urban project like Scanderbeg Square, which helps the students prepare for their future work life.
