Socialist industrial heritage in Albania. A proposal design for the conversion of the Gogonushi complex in Fier

The Socialist regime, which governed the country from 1945 to 1990, consigned to Albania a series of industrial complexes as an outcome of the partnership with URRS’ and Chinese popular Republic technicians. These titanic structures still emerge from the neighbourhoods of the most important Albanian towns, creating significant relationships with the surrounding landscape. The fall of the socialist regime in Albania in 1990 represented for the country a newfound freedom and a sense of belonging, but the interest for these Socialist industrial settlements resists to the repression of the regime’s symbols. Is it possible, today, consider these industrial buildings as new Albanian heritage, capable of produce new symbolic and positive values for the community? The proposed paper would show the work of the research group developed during a graduation thesis at the Polytechnic of Bari, in the 2014-2015 academic year . The research has two different scales of approach: - on a territorial scale, we planned a strategy to create a smart network for the new Albanian post-industrial landscape, considering the application options of the Ruhr model; - on a building scale, we worked on a pilot project for the greatest industrial area of the Albania middle-southern region. The project has two main goals: transforming the exterior ground surface from an industrial and functionalist space to a public one whilst converting the interior to a culturally oriented space, in order to create a positive dialogue between the existing industrial machines (turbines and boilers) and the new elements of project. The exterior design tries to amend the conflict that exists between natural elements and the factory through the projection of green plots that bring inside the public space different aspects of the Albanian landscape, characterized by lagoons, huges and farms.

Il regime socialista, che ha governato il paese dal 1945 al 1990, ha consegnato all’Albania una serie di complessi industriali frutto dell’importazione di tecniche e processi costruttivi importati dall’URRS e dalla Cina. La caduta del regime pone la questione se questi manufatti, nonostante costituiscano uno dei simboli della dittatura, possono essere interessati da processi di risignificazione e rigenerazione per la comunità albanese. Il paper proposto per tanto analizza il possibile riuso del complesso Gogo Nushi a Fier, investigando diverse scale di intervento: -la scala territoriale dove si propongono delle strategie territoriali che generino una nuova e attrattiva immagine del paesaggio post-industriale albanese attraverso la creazione di un network che connette i manufatti industriali con la rete del patrimonio archeologico e ambientale della regione centro-meridionale; -la scala del singolo complesso, dove si propone un progetto pilota di riconversione della Gogo Nushi, immaginandola come un grande polo culturale che ricuce l’interrotto rapporto con gli elementi naturali e che possa costituirsi come una grande “casa del territorio” al servizio della comunità.