Valentina Pistoli

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Valentina Pistoli (* 1928 in Korça , Albania ; † 1993 ) was the first Albanian architect .

Life

The Aleksandër Moisiu Theater in Durrës (opened in 1953)

Valentina Pistoli was born in 1928 in the city of Korça in southeastern Albania, where she also attended the Lyceum.

Pistoli decided to train as an architect. Due to a lack of training facilities in their own country, Albanian architects had been trained in western countries before the Second World War , mainly in Italy or Austria; After the war, Albanian students were sent to the USSR and Czechoslovakia as well as to Poland , Romania and Bulgaria as part of the growing policy of mutual aid among the Eastern Bloc countries , including Pistoli. She studied architecture at the Bulgarian University of Sofia and graduated in 1952.

Pistoli was characterized by a new understanding of architecture based on logic and freedom, although it was constrained in its work by materials and aesthetic limits determined by the communist regime. For 32 years, with over 160 projected buildings, it shaped the appearance of 26 cities in Albania, in some cases significantly. She designed several residential complexes in her hometown of Korça as well as in Vlora (along the Rruga e Skelës), Cërrik , Tirana and Elbasan . Other works are the building complex of the main post office in Korça, the cultural center of Pogradec , the Hotel Skampa in Elbasan and other hotels in Kukës , Bajram Curri , Puka and Himara , schools and sleeping quarters of boarding schools in Elbasan, Peshkopia , Delvina and Përrenjas , the cinemas of Kruja and Elbasan, the party headquarters of Librazhd and Cërrik, a vila on the Dajti and the hospital in Cërrik. The Aleksandër Moisiu Theater in Durrës, which opened in 1953, is one of her early works.

Tirana with the large park and the "artificial lake"

In 1957, Pistoli concretized ideas and made designs for the extensive complex of the Great Park of Tirana with the "artificial lake", amphitheater, monuments and works of art in the hilly area in the south of the city. Around 1960 Bulgarian and Albanian architects worked on the implementation of the park.

The Tirana International Hotel on Skanderbegplatz (1978)

The 15-story Hotel Tirana (now Tirana International Hotel ) in the center of the Albanian capital Tirana is considered to be her most important work and the highlight of her professional career . The planning work for the future main hotel at a prominent location on Skanderbeg Square began in 1972. Pistoli led a team of well-known architects, including Koço Çomi, Petraq Kolevica, Nina Theodhosi and Klement Kolaneci. The hotel with 324 beds was opened in 1979. At that time, it shaped the silhouette of the city with its height of 56 meters and was the tallest building in Albania until well into the 1990s.

In addition to her planning work, Pistoli, who was also a member of the Communist Party of Albania, was also active in teaching and worked for many years part-time as a lecturer in architecture at the Faculty of Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Tirana .

Valentina Pistoli died in 1993 at the age of about 65.

25 years later, on March 8, 2018, International Women's Day, she was posthumously honored with the Albanian Architecture Award , which was received by her son Tani. The laudation said that Pistoli, as a leading designer, contributed to some of the major works of Albanian architecture in the era of centralized economy and managed to create a simple and timeless architecture under the ideological constraints of the time. She made a special contribution to the development of design methodology at the Institute for Architectural Design in Tirana and, through her teaching work, made a significant contribution to the development of architectural training in Albania.

Fonts

  • Përmbi gjysma e popullsisë në banesa të reja . In: Shkenca dhe Jeta . No. 03 , 1974, p. 1516 (Albanian).

literature

  • Dritan Miço: An Outline of Albania's Socialist Architecture . (English, online [PDF]).

Web links

Commons : Valentina Pistoli  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Akademia e Shkencave e Shqipërisë (ed.): Fjalor enciklopedik shqiptar: N-Zh dhe një shtojcë . Tirana 2009, ISBN 99956-10-32-9 (Albanian).
  2. ↑ a b c d Valentina Pistoli. architectuul.com, accessed on March 24, 2020 (English, photo with Pistoli (on the right)).
  3. ↑ a b Sotir Dhamo: Valentina Pistoli. Arkitektja e par shqiptare . In: Universitet Polis, Co-Plan (ed.): Forum A + P . No. 8 . Tirana 2011, p. 154–159 ( issuu.com [accessed March 25, 2020]).
  4. ↑ Indrit Bleta: Influences of Political Regime Shifts on the urban scene of a Capital City. Case Study: Tirana . Ed .: Middle East Technical University (METU) . Ankara 2010, p. 96 (English, online [PDF] master's thesis in the history of architecture).
  5. ↑ Amfiteatri i Tiranës (Teatri i Hapur) - APR Tirana. In: aprtirana.al. Retrieved March 24, 2020 (Albanian).
  6. ^ Atelier Albania: Lake Park Research Report. (PDF) January 2015, p. 1 , accessed on March 25, 2020 (English, chapter “General Information”).
  7. ↑ Indrit Bleta: Influences of Political Regime Shifts on the urban scene of a Capital City. Case Study: Tirana . Ed .: Middle East Technical University. Ankara 2010, p. 86 (English, online [PDF] master's thesis in the history of architecture).
  8. ↑ Për projektin e 15-katëshit, arkitektët u dërguan dy javë në Jugosllavi. Shekulli Online, June 1, 2016, accessed March 24, 2020 (Albanian).
  9. ^ Jona Osmani: AUA Awards Four Exceptional Albanian Architects On Women's Day. World Architecture Community, March 12, 2018, accessed March 24, 2020 .
  10. ^ Albanian Architecture Award. Polis University, March 9, 2018, accessed March 24, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Pistoli, Valentina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first Albanian architect
DATE OF BIRTH 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Korça , Albania
DATE OF DEATH 1993