multi-purpose centre
in the nomad camp
argirocastro (albania)1989
At the end of the 80’s, together with Carlo Pozzi, I designed a literacy school for Romani children on the edge of the city of Argirocastro, in Albania, for the humanitarian organization Tolbà. Two inspection trips were necessary to investigate and understand the issues connected with that area, which was affected by the civil war of 1990. In Girocastro alone, 46 children were reported becoming disabled due to severe firearm wounds; the project had a precise objective: not only Albanian children, but also those of Romanian or Greek origin with a social or economic disadvantaged background were to be given the opportunity to have access to education for the future of an entire country.
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- © archos archive
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- © archos archive
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- © archos archive
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- © archos archive
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- © archos archive
© archos archive
“It must have been six o'clock in the afternoon when behind a small mountain, there appeared a town of stone, a grey stone that glistened with pink and silver in the light of the sunset after the storm. A show that I will never forget.”
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In the nomadic village, the dwellings built by the regime were but concrete boxes with rammed earth floors, without water or electricity. Most of those people slept in cellophane tents. Here lived the miserable outcast people of Europe's poorest nation.
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A school for those who didn't even have a roof over their heads. It could not be a gift: they could never understand how important it is to be able to read and write to survive abuse and violence.
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The project that wasn’t there; the idea behind it was that it belonged to everyone and that everyone should take part in carrying it out. Self-construction as sensitization; disposable formwork where children could play.
© archos archive