Dear citizens of Tirana, At the beginning of the semester we received a letter from the Pallati i Brigadave, who sadly told us about his loneliness and splendid isolation. He feels trapped and powerless to change his condition. After a few conversations with you, we realized that many of you did not know the Palace, or if you did, you did not have an emotional connection with it. We also heard the voices of those who take care of it, which believe that the Palace should be kept as it is. We are convinced that the role of this building has to be rethought in order to start to serve you - the people of this country. Standing empty without serving a purpose to the public is a sad future for the palace. Therefore, we looked for a compromise between keeping the palace protected under a glass bell and opening it completely to the public, we wanted these two expectations to be met. After hearing your stories, we selected the rooms with the most historical and emotional value to stay in their current state, in order to mediate the visitor a narrative and also to reduce the cost of maintenance. The selected rooms and their connection form an instructive path which runs through the building and touches on the history of the Palace, its beauty, as well as its deterioration. In the new voids, which are scattered between the preserved rooms, we filled programs wich you thought should be enhanced in the city. The two realities coexist and overlap, and in both cases one can always catch glimpses of what is happening on the other side. Throughout this transformation we tried to enrich the building and reached a compromise. Through the radical gesture of physically and visually open the palace to the city, you can emotionally (re-)connect to this symbolic building and in addition to give you the opportunity to discover for the first time or rediscover the beauty of the whole Palace. The choices we have made have always tried to respond to your needs as a country as well of those of the city, in all its facets, so that you are a part of the transformation of the Pallati i Brigadave. It is a Palace that has never been a palace, and now it is the time that together we open it to the city and to all those who want to discover its beauty. Sincerely yours, De-constructing Beauty

found objects

© Tami Notsani

catalog of rooms

interaction

feedback

concept model

path section through the palace

axonometry

concrete model

conection to the city

visual connection to the city from the entrance ramp

duality: room of the palace and a new program space

overlap

close up concrete model

garden atmosphere