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Activities during the Academic End of the Year 2015-2016- “Walking the City”, the tradition continues - Energy Efficiency Summer School - Certificate ISO 9001: 2008 and ISO 9001: 2015 for POLIS - The new admission Procedure in Higher Education Institutions and U_POLIS - New Publciations - TAW 2016: Tirana Archictecture Weeks Biennial - Open lectures - Cine_POLIS - Open lectures - Expo_POLIS - Workshops - TAW 2016 Closing!

UNIVERSITETI POLIS ESHTE AKREDITUAR ME URDHER TE MINISTRIT TE ARSIMIT DHE SHKENCES NR.227, DATE 22.07.2009. I LICENSUAR ME VENDIM TE KESHILLIT TE MINISTRAVE, NR. 698, DATE 11.10.2006 BOTUAR NE FLETOREN ZYRTARE NR 114, FAQE 4475, VITI 2006. PER ME SHUME MUND TE KLIKONI NE : WWW.QPZ.GOV.AL OSE WWW.MASH.GOV.AL. U_POLIS është anëtar i shoqatës së shkollave evropiane te arkitektures (AEEA). Anëtar i shoqatës së shkollave evropiane të planifikimit (AESOP) dhe nënshkrues i “Magna Charta” te Bolonjës. Universiteti Polis – Shkolla ndërkombëtare e Arkitekturës dhe Politikave të Zhvillimit Urban, Rr. Bylis 12, Autostrada Tiranë-Durrës, Km 5, Kashar Kodi Postar 1051, Kutia Postare 2995, Tirana, Albania. Tel:+ 355.(0) 4 240 74 20 / 240 74 21; Fax:+ 355.(0)4 240 74 22. Mob. +355 (0) 69 40 88 111. www.universitetipolis.edu.al

NO.27

Activities during the end of the Academic Year 2015-2016We have already started the new academic year and it is now that we can look back and evaluate the university performance dur-ing the previous year. The year we left behind is undoubtedly considered a successful one in many aspects. The new year we have just started has other challenges to be achieved and this is why POLIS grows every single year building its good reputation and visibility. Some of the main events organized during the previous year are:

• “JALAN movie – – a documentary movie projected in May 24th 2016, on the resourcefulness and creativity of the simple people of Jakarta in Indonesia, brought by the Dutch artist Su Tomesen, a special guest of POLIS.

• The premiere of the documentary “Invitation to Atelier” in May 25th 2016, in honor of the well-known artist, sculptor and profes-sor of POLIS University, Thoma Thomai. This documentary shows the work of the sculptor, with a focus on his monumental works. It is an excellent work of Pirro and Eno Milkani, famous Albanian directors.

• The exhibition of the well-known painter, Hasan Nallbani, entitled “Women through Time”, at M.A.D. Gallery at POLIS. The exhibi-tion included pictures of the period 2015-2016. The opening ceremony was held in June 3rd, 2016 under personal care of Prof. Asc. Gezim Qendro, as a curator.

• The exhibition “Modeling Processes” with some original ceramic works designed by POLIS Art Design students inspired by “Modeling and Artistic Techniques” course guided by Prof. Thoma Thomai and Arch. Joana Dhiamandi. It was opened in June 29th, 2016.

• Open lectures from Mr. Pablo Landa on “Social Landscapes in Contemporary Mexican Architecture” and Prof. Maros Finka (Poly-technikum of Bratislava) on “Principles for Energy savings in architecture and urban design”, held respectively on June 14th and June 21st of 2016.

The new admission Procedure in Higher Education Institutions and U_POLISThe Ministry of Education and Sports introduced a new application and registration procedure to be applied by private and public universities for the academic year 2016-2017. It was applied in two stages under close monitoring of the Ministry. Being first time to implement it surely asked for extra efforts on the part of the staff and due to full commitment the target of POLIS to receive around 300 students in all study levels was even overpassed and there were registered around 350 in the 4 running study levels: professional, bachelor, master and doctorate. The quality of the students admitted this year has increased significantly. It is important to tell that POLIS was one of few universities that applied the admission test as an extra step beside official obligatory procedures.

TAW 2016: Tirana Archictecture Weeks BiennialFollowing the tradition of TAW biennale this year POLIS organized the new edition of TAW named “Architecture that matters”, curated by Dr. Antonino Di Raimo, the Dean of architecture and design faculty. This event was generously supported from “Future Architecture” foundation and “The Italian Institute of Culture”. September 26th, 2016 marked the opening of this edition which continued until October 28th. The organizational team and volunteers who were a novelty of this year, organized a rich menu of events such as lectures, workshops, exhibitions, etc, which are briefly described below. The important fact is that this year TAW 2016 offered the new architecture spirit and trends, alternative architecture rather than current trends of “star architects”. This brought freshness and a new spirit within and outside POLIS professional circles.

TAW 2016 Closing!October 28th of 2016 marked the closing of 5 intensive weeks of TAW Tirana Architecture Weeks 2016, where many guests, students and staff gave their contribution through different lectures, workshops and events. To celebrate the success and the excellent work of the organizers of this event, a “Final Party” was held in October 28th, 2016 at “Tulla Center’. The reactivation of social life and interaction and the celebra-tion of achievements has always been important for POLIS. In October 6th, 2016, POLIS Student Association organized a social event named “Icebreaking party” as a way to welcome new students into POLIS community. Everything was organized and administered by the student community and the mentor lecturer Arch. Dea Buza.

Open lecturesOpen lectures were presentations from different guests, who were well-known architects and designers. Each of them talked about their work and personal experience and aroused the interest of the audience,

part of which was POLIS staff and students from and outside POLIS. Some of these lecturers were: Antonino Saggio, a well-known architect and designer at “La Sapienza” University, who showed his experience on professional experiment named “Sicily Lab” (held in September 26th) Leopold Lambert, French architect, who talked about “Weaponized Architecture” in order to illustrate architecture’s violence and to propose a manifesto for architects to engage politically (held in September 27th) Gjon Radovani, architect and Deputy Minister of urban development, who made a presentation about the “Transmission of memory” as an important element of territorial development, held in October 3rd. Jack Self, a London-based architect and writer, whose writings have been posted in Architectural Design, The Guardian, New Philosopher, 032c and Dezeen, as well as other platforms. He was also curator of the British Pavilion in Venice in October 4th of 2016. Tobia Scarpa, Italian architect and designer, who in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture, talked about his work and experience as a designer (held in October 13th) Linda Krage, Associate Professor of Riga Technical University in Latvia, who talked about their precious experience on the restoration of the immovable cultural heritage in Latvia (held in October 17th). Jacob Buur, professor of “User-Centered Design” from the University of Southern Denmark, and research director of the “SDU Design Research Centre”, who spoke about the designing of co-design tools (in October 25th). Daniele Belleri, representative of Carlo Ratti studio, a well-known Italian and American architect, who gave a lecture on “Urban Planning and Renovation in seaside and industrial areas” (October 27th). EcoLogic Studio, an architecture and urban design studio, co-founded in London by Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto. In the past few years, this studio has built up an international reputation for its innovative work on ‘systemic’ design. In October 28th).

New PublicationsThe POLIS_PRESS publications continue to come to life successfully:

1. “Tirana, the missed city” – a publication by co-authors Sotir Dhamo, Gjergj Thomai and Besnik Aliaj, is an attempt to read Tirana of our times through that part of the past which came to light partially, or could never come to light . “The missed Tirana” is a hidden treasure of visions and projects for Tirana over the years, of the mental, intellectual and monetary energies, still not read or understood in the right way, which happened thanks to the research work of POLIS in collaboration with CTAC (Central Technical Archive of Construction). This publication is quite rich in linguistic and scientific references and represents a good reference for students, staff and professionals.

2. “Albanian Riviera, an alternative model for Progress and Development for the Next Generation Albania” is a publication of POLIS_PRESS and the Doctorate Pro-gram, a collaboration between POLIS and Ferrara University, Italy, in the framework of the applied research unit “The Observatory for the Mediterranean Basin” (OMB). This publication was edited by Prof. Dr. Besnik Aliaj and Dr. Loris Rossi. It contains various articles, research work and conceptual projects regarding ter-ritorial and touristic development of Riviera Region from Vlora to Saranda. The research project and the publication are a further contribution towards the foresight of the country development, structured initially by previous publications named “Albania 2030” and “Durana”.

“Walking the City”, the tradition continuesPOLIS community is fanatically preserving the tradition of “Walking the City”, an activity that gets together students and staff in a 2-3 hour walking tour around the city. The tour aims to provide a historic and professional “picture” of the capital where staff and students get familiar with unknown parts of the capital and draw conclusions about the city past and present performance. This year the tour was organized in May. Such an authentic activity is increasingly raising the attention of many people, visitors and professionals.

Certificate ISO 9001: 2008 and ISO 9001: 2015 for POLISPOLIS University is certified at international level for institutional management quality according to the standards of ISO 9001: 2008 and ISO 9001: 2015. This certificate was accomplished after a process of monitoring and evaluation carried by the Istituto di Certificazione di Qualita CDQ Italia s.r.l. This is another indicator of POLIS commitment to quality and internationalization of the university.

Energy Efficiency Summer SchoolPOLIS University hosted the Energy Efficiency Summer School at its premises on 3rd – 10th of September, a common initiative of the Energy Community in Vienna-Austria and POLIS University, with the support of GIZ and Visegrad Fund. Around 40 participating students selected from 27 countries from the region and Europe were provided with the interactive opportunity to listen to lectures presented from the best lecturers of the energy sector on a European and global level. In the meantime, they visited some of the most well-known cultural and historical places of our country and capital. The school will take place every year in one of the European countries.

Cine_POLIS• September 29, 2016 - “Land in Sight” by Judith Keil & Ante Krystal, in collaboration with Marubi Multimedia Film Academy, a long lasting partner of TDW and POLIS.• October 11, 2016- “The Courage of time: People and Values of the Modern Movement”. A performance by Paola Albini and a show about the birth of modern architecture in Italy! Curiosity, experimentation, the struggle for freedom of thought, the ethics of the profession of figures like Edoardo Persico, Giuseppe Pa-gano and rationalist movement; the birth of Milan Triennal and Milan Fair; of magazines like “Casabella” and first exhibitions; the figure of Franco Albini and the social value of architecture: all of this was shown in a performance made of words, live music and images. The protagonist city is Milan, where the Italian artistic rationalism was born.

Expo_POLIS• September 30, 2016 – “Young Balkan Designers” “ Exhibition was opened at M.A.D. Gallery, supported by “Future Architecture”. It is the second year that this exhibition comes at POLIS as a regional platform for new talents with the aim to identify, promote and develop creative potential of the Balkan region in the field of product design. • October 10, 2016 - “The Swiss touch in landscape architecture”, Exhibition, which was opened with a lecture by Micheal Jakob about the idea of the Swiss nature and landscape architecture. • October 18, 2016 – “Transformations that matter” Student Club celebrating the end of the International Competition for Ideas in Architecture and Urbanism, with the same title where three winners were announced: First Prize - E-Canvas - Hermann KAMTE [Cameroon]; Second Prize -“Performative Clouds - Lazar BELIC, Anastasija PROTIC [Serbia]; Third Prize - Opposite Inspiration - Denis MUCA, Hysmet ADEMI [Albania].

WorkshopsAs an institution which works on the idea of transformation at architecture levels, landscape and urbanism, the main aim of these events was to create the conditions for an open discussions on “Architec-ture and Design” focusing on their specific importance. To serve this purpose, the following workshops were organized during the biennial. WSH 1: “Riviera_LAB” Art, Architecture and Landscape as a means to improve the quality of life and social and economic growth, held between Sept. 18th -25th in Qeparo. The workshop used a challenging multidisciplinary as part of a collaboration process between Albanian and Italian participants (researchers in PhD) with the locals for a cultural exchange and to draft a strategy for the territorial development. WSH 2: “BIOplarch” This activity dealt with the issue of experiencing ecologic materials and was held at POLIS from September 2nd to September 9th. The aim of this workshop was to raise awareness and interest of the public and professionals. This activity had the main focus on the use of ecological materials and was organized at POLIS between October 2nd-9th, 2016. The aim was to raise the interest in creating biological plastic materials in the design process. After the lectures by Turkish architect and university professor Esen Gökçe Özdamar, the local participants were able to create actual samples of bio-plastic products. WSH 3: “Beyond FORM” This workshop, held between October 2 -9, 2016 explored the implementation of basic architectural concepts, facts and information gathered through formal learning in an actual situation in the city which needs intervention. The open lectures that accompanied this workshop, held by Portuguese architects Sara Neves and Filipe Estrela enriched this experience even more. WSH 4: “CAMPing in Tirana”This workshop was focused on architecture for refugees and was held between October 2nd-9th, 2016. This activity shifted the society’s focus on architectural aspects of the refugee crisis. Different stakeholders were invited to join the discussion – refugees, architects, activists and politicians – and debate on the created environmental aspects of the crisis and to co-project possible solutions and strategies. Bençe Komlosi, a Hungarian architect presented a lecture on this topic.WSH 5: “CompleX_City” This event was guided by professors Sotir Dhamo and Ledian Bregasi/Ermal Hoxha between October 2nd-12th, 2016, treated the concepts of ‘Quantum and Fractal Tirana’ focusing on the exploration of new methodologies for urban analysis and observations. The event was held in the framework of POLIS scientific research focused on urban morphology of Tirana as a case study in order to emphasize new models for urban analysis and hypothesis of urban design.

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