FOOD METROPOLIS
Era Buza
Meet Dea, an architect with over a decade of experience in both local and international realms, specializing in the intersection of architecture, information technology, and curatorial projects. Having graduated from Polis University in Tirana, Dea has since held roles as an assistant lecturer, a lecturer at the Polytechnic University of Tirana, and currently serves as a full-time lecturer at the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Agricultural University of Tirana. As a dedicated scholar, she is pursuing her PhD candidacy at both the Agricultural University of Tirana and the Technical University of Vienna in the topic:”‘FOOD METROPOLIS’, a new way to approach landscape”. Alongside her academic endeavors, Dea is a co-founder of Apparat Studio, channeling her passion for architecture into innovative projects. She is active in major architectural and art events, such as co-curator for the Kosovo Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2018, part of curatorial team at the Milano Triennale 2016, part of the curatorial and organization team for the Tirana Architecture Weeks 2016 and Tirana Design Week 2015, Art in public space 2022 as an architect for‘Terminal for Tirana’ etc. Dea is going to be the team leader of this project.
Apparat Collective:
Apparat emerges as a fresh beacon in the realm of Architecture and Design, born from the collaborative vision of two sisters. Drawing inspiration from the vibrant and evolving styles of Tirana and Pristina, our studio is dedicated to cultivating innovative ideas and methodologies that catalyze positive transformations.
In the bustling landscapes of Tirana and Prishtina, Apparat confronts everyday challenges head-on, leveraging cutting-edge technology, unconventional architectural approaches, and pioneering materials to craft exceptional and meticulously crafted designs. While our core expertise lies in architecture and visual design, we defy conventions and embrace the opportunity to explore diverse creative avenues.
The idea of Food metropolis is to develop a workshop with students and young practitioners whom are interested in the fields of architecture,landscape, planning, urbanism and environment focusing on finding novel solutions to food issues in metropolitan areas. The workshop will focus on three main aspects over one week such as: Mapping,Proposals and ideas,Cataloging and exhibiting. Mapping refers to the collection of data and work in the areas between urban/rural, to define the critical point when we can then intervene with different approaches such as a new layer of production landscape’ that this term can then divided in 3 categories:
horizontal: [using horizontal approach such as the existing lands and redefining the patters]-rural, semi urban; vertical:[using existing structures and building transforming them into productive space]-urban; horizontal-vertical [this is a mix of two concepts that will discover public and semipublic spaces that can be developed].
The mapping will serve as a basis for the development of proposals in the given metropolis. The proposals will be developed by using different AI tools in order to generate a list of quick solutions. Then the groups can select the most suitable ones for each of the categories.
A catalogue will be developed with the solutions that are developed through AI tools and while the exhibition will be developed only with the solutions selected by each of the groups during the workshop. The role of the workshop is not only local as it offers solutions to a given metropolitan area for adapting to climate change through landscape architecture and food production, but also serves as a methodological and practical approach for other metropolitan areas to develop such types of actions.
The metropolis that will be selected is the area between Tirana-Durres. This area is the subject of the research of the main applicant for her PhD and thus a theoretical and methodological framework serves as a basis for the workshop.