A young woman experiencing the city by night, in a game of lights which expand her senses and her fear of walking alone.

A public space of an apartment building complex in Tirana, previously used as a parking lot, is now transformed into a small park with the active participation of the local community. The project is a successful example of participatory design and creative recreation of public space. The film is produced during the CAFx Film & Architecture Workshop Tirana: Leave No One Behind.

The earthquake-proof individual residential building "LOTOS" is a quickly erected, capital, fireproof and earthquake-proof house with a minimum consumption of such material as reinforced concrete, while ensuring a minimum construction cost. For this purpose, the flat walls of a large-panel house are replaced by thinner curvilinear ones, which have high rigidity and stability under the influence of seismic loads. In many regions of the world it is possible to solve the problem of providing the population with comfortable affordable housing by this method.

InBetween This film idea came to mind after going through different concepts. I kept coming back to one idea that I hadn’t fully understood but had in the back of my mind through the concept development. At some point during the night, in-between ideas and sketches I figured out what it was - what I wanted to say by creating the film.  Many public spaces exist in the city, but they are hidden by some constraints. They are not easily reachable or popular, but they exist. I believe if we look deep enough, we will discover them and enjoy their existence. We do not have to create a new one, instead, we can re-create what already exists.  ‘Is there a single correct interpretation of space and place?’ (Ali Madaripur)

The film traces fragments of my journey to Tirana. The camera keeps running between racking images detecting the current transformation of the city's urban environment. The construction workers seem like men falling from the sky, forming an ephemeral landmark: moving and tiny vertical elements arising from the naked facades, reminders of the human dimension.

The film aims to portrait The New Bazaar: a modern public space; a lively scene with many happenings; inclusive for the people; a space that makes no seggregation between those who visit. But as you look at it, the design itself has no link with the Old Bazaar: the booming point of the whole city of Tirana, that has existed for over 300 years, and was demolished in 1959. As you walk around, the glass structure reflects the old mosque, an element that recalls the fact that before the new buildings composed this space, less than a hundred years ago, other buildings, another bazaar lived there, and they shaped the collective memory of the habitants. But there is no other sign. No translation of the history into the design itself. The film tends to implicate the fact that the new bazaar as a public space has proven to be successful in terms of inclusivity for the people. But it is just as important for the design to represent the history of the old bazaar, which people cared about and remember with nostalgia, but risks to be just a vague memory, and for which new generations 100 years from now will have no idea about.

The film explores where the boundaries of inclusive design are and how they can be further extended by setting pre-determined barriers. The project fictionalises the story of a traveler without knees and how he lives in a modern city. In the process of social discipline, it is a necessary thing to deconstruct the single-mindedness and wishful thinking of the designers in a playful way. In the process of making the film, I tried to identify similarities in the symbolic forms of everyday life and intertwined them with ''poor images'' to examine the tiny narratives of fragmentation and chatter from the position of a spectator.

Due to public shaming, lack of awareness and education, and exclusive spaces, disabled communities struggle the most and turn into home prisoners at some point. The integration of disabled people into society is very limited in Azerbaijan and the film highlights a deaf person’s perspective on daily life. Due to little to no existing inclusive infrastructure in Baku, most disabled people find it hard to go out of their houses without being dependent on a helper. Also, those who feel comfortable going out are always subjected as someone “in need” and get many offers from the public for help which the person did not even ask for in the first place. Many also assume that people with disabilities are in need of money and often offer them some financial help as well, which leaves many in an uncomfortable situation. The public authorities who are responsible for the city design and institutions working with people with disabilities are usually very irresponsive and the needs of the community have been unfortunately neglected for years with many empty promises to provide necessary design and tools around the neighborhoods to make life easier for them.

The system of construction of seismic-resistant houses "LOTOS" allows you to build both low-rise and multi-store residential buildings with the possibility of building 30-40 store buildings. These are not ordinary houses, but they are 20-30% cheaper than even today's most economical large-panel houses. In an earthquake-resistant version, the savings can be much greater. This is achieved through the use of more stable curved walls and a three-ray coordinate system. Concrete consumption is 0.4 -0.5 m3 per square meter. High-rise buildings have high seismic resistance at minimal cost.

What we see with our eyes, we make with our hands is an Albanian proverb, reflecting on our film's main subject: architecture without architects. More specifically our subject is the builders themselves, through the story of Besnik, a halal butcher, who also built together with his friends a bar in the informal settlement of Bathore, on the outskirts of Tirana. His story represents how people left alone by centralised building and housing policies can make their own architecture, infrustructure and urbanism, and find functionality, pride and beauty without adhering to ideals and rules of professional planning. The film was made by buhera klub, a collective consisting of Anna Seress and Anna Zsoldos.

Contemporary urban life plays in fast-forward. People use public space mainly as a medium to get from place to place, not as a destination. They practically share the space with each other, but they rarely use it to connect. That lack of connection creates alienation that ends up in exclusion. What would happen if we could simply pause for a moment and connect with what surround us and actually experience the space and the people in it? Wouldn't it be nice to meet you?