ALBANIAN ARCHITECTS: MEDJANA ELEZI

A brief description of you, where you work, how many years of experience you have and your area of expertise.

The human, the social aspect and the details are the focus of our attention as a studio.

I do my job with a lot of passion and love. People inspire me and I feel privileged to be able to express myself and contribute in this way to the community.

I have been working in this profession for 14 years. My beginnings were in other studios in Albania and abroad where I gained experience in the wide range that architecture encompasses.

I have been running Med Studio for 9 years.

In Albania, we have the good opportunity to work in different fields and this makes work much more beautiful every day.

Why did you choose architecture? What was the spark that led you to this profession?

The path towards architecture has been "a coincidence". I just followed the signs and apparently that's what I was supposed to do. As a child, I did not express any early talent or anything else, I have discovered all of them along the way, which has made my entire professional experience even more fulfilling and beautiful.

What has been the most challenging project for you? Why?

I could say that it is very challenging if you work in the interior and you have a typology such as the apartment and the villas that repeat several times but for different people. When two projects are requested with the same style, the uniqueness of the residents who live there must be preserved.

The architect's mission is to understand the client as an individual and a social being in such dimensions that he manages to produce a unique project for them, meeting their requirements at the same time.

What do you think of architecture and which is the project that best represents you?

I think of architecture as a very good opportunity to express yourself as an individual or as a group in this case as Med Studio and to simultaneously contribute to create a better society. It is necessary to be in harmony with the climatic conditions and with the design requirements, always bearing in mind that your work affects the way of life of the people.

It also affects the progress of an entrepreneur's business in cases where the client is in this field.

This profession I have chosen gives me many opportunities to search and find new dimensions for my life as an architect, woman, mother and citizen aware of what happens around us every day.

The most representative project is the adaptation of the "Former Përmet cinema" into a service building, a hotel, a facility currently  in construction.

The challenge has been to preserve the existing building with all its identifying elements that reflect the time when this object had interventions and the addition of the floor to be in harmony with it. A minimalist attitude, with clean volumes and contemporary materials.

What advice would you give yourself at the beginning of your career, valid even for young architects or those girls/women who want to become architects? 

"Be open and don't be shy to express yourself and admit that you are all the time in the process of learning "

I think that the moment you accept and want to do this job, it is also an silent agreement that you have to do the job regardless of your gender. Knowing that architecture is dominated by the male gender all over the world, but in a small country like ours, this gap is bigger. You have to take on work in the office, on the site, in the community, reflecting self-confidence and being very cooperative with all work groups.

As a result, regardless of challenges or difficult moments in  work or life, you can only keep alive the desire to move forward.

What inspires you in your work? (Artist/architect)?

In my work, I am inspired by the type of project I take, its typology, the people who will use it and the teamwork. I am inspired by professionals and artists who are very close to nature, who take into consideration the human being and their behavior in the environment that surrounds them.

The greatest inspiration is the love for the people, nature and life. This name "mymuseislove" has also been given to my artistic projects under the daKuna art name.

Three projects that you want us to feature on pikark.com

Former Cinema, Përmet

Hotel

Vila TS

Family villa

La Coco, 2022

Pastry, Coffee bar