BACKGROUND
STORY
Four years ago, the volunteers and staff of Toestand, an NGO specialized in reappropriating abandoned buildings, started making a yearly international trip. Over the past years, they’ve been to Tetova, Prishtina, Granada, and Kremenchuk to help build a socio-cultural space for local youngsters. These projects last about two weeks and are then managed and maintained by the local community.
In September of 2018, Rigers and Livia went to Termokiss, the social center in Prishtina, and showed interest in the idea of having a similar common space in Tirana. After getting in touch with Toestand, the decision was made that the next international project would occur in our town.
A group of Albanian volunteers gathered every Tuesday in search of an abandoned building, but also to share a common idea regarding the future of the space.
On July 17th, a group of around 60 Belgian volunteers, and around 20 volunteers from Kosovo and Macedonia, alongside the local Albanians met up to reconstruct what once was a tractor factory.
TERMOKISS & TOESTAND INTERNATIONAL
Four years ago, the volunteers and staff of Toestand, an NGO specialized in re-appropriating abandoned buildings, started making a yearly international trip. Over the past years, they’ve been to Tetova, Prishtina, Granada, and Kremenchuk to help build a socio-cultural space for local youngsters.
These projects last about two weeks and are then managed and maintained by the local community.
In September of 2018, Rigers and Livia (two of our volunteers) went to Termokiss, the social center in Prishtina, and showed interest in the idea of having a common space in Tirana. After getting in touch with Toestand, the decision was made that the next international project would happen in Tirana.
A group of Albanian volunteers gathered every Tuesday in search of an abandoned building, but also to share a common idea regarding the future of the space. Two weeks prior to the dates of the International project occurring, we still didn’t have confirmation from the municipality on whether the abandoned building we wanted would be available for us to transform and use.
On July 17th, a group of around 60 Belgian volunteers, and around 20 volunteers from Kosovo and Macedonia, alongside the local Albanians met up to reconstruct what once was a Chinese-manufactured factory during Albanian communism.
BUILDING WEEK
The first day was focused on bringing to surface the ideas which the locals of Tirana hold regarding a social center. We divided into groups and brainstormed ideas for the design or functionality of the space.
That was the first type when the locals (volunteers or people who’d just joined) sat down and shared our vision with a big group of people we’d just met. There was conflict when making decisions (the most common thing that can occur in a group setting), and there were aspects where we didn’t all have a common vision of what we wanted the space to become...and those are the reasons you dedicate a day to share ideas, discuss, argue in order to finally reach a common understanding.
The following days we divided into different working groups and gained some basic knowledge on how to use building equipment. Two days were spent looking for materials; we visited waste landfills, searched for trash or other materials that people had or that were lying around the neighborhood, which we could use as assets and reuse them for building.
Day four came by and there was nothing that could stop us. People began building walls, shoveling, picking up wood and old equipment from local shops. With techno in the background, the individual would forget that they’ve had 5 hours of sleep and 10 hours of work. When anyone got exhausted, they’d take a nap or sit down at the couches for some chit chat. Otherwise, we were all focused on one goal, to work and reconstruct that environment.
On the sixth day, most of us were lacking sleep, but things started to make sense; the building was taking some shape. The walls were built halfway through, the door was ready, there were colorful windows, a mezzanine and a productive working environment. We shared a common vision, and a fundamental understanding of the importance of a socio-cultural center, so a bond had been inevitably created whether we showed explicit effort or not.
On the opening night, around a hundred people gathered. Let's just say that it had been a successful week in terms of a somewhat livable space, learning new skills, and forming a base for the future of the project.
The Aftermath
The 10 days spent on the construction of the building were a huge push to the local community. We now actually had the responsibility to carry on this project. The efforts and energy of 60+ volunteers couldn’t “go to waste.” September and October consisted of more construction, cleaning up the garden, organizing small events and having very overwhelming meetings.
Our contract with the town-hall regarding electricity ended and that marked the beginning of a very rough winter. No electricity, no heat, no water meant that no activities took place in Uzina, and the majority of our meetings were held in other random locations. The less we frequented the space, the more it got vandalized.
There was conflict within the group, so the group was not really a group, but a mix of people coming and going alongside very few that remained throughout the journey. We held quite a nice New Years Eve party, countless meetings, a lot of brainstorming and ideation and discussion, and made a few crucial decisions along the way.
Earthquake. Covid-19. We were now stuck and really demotivated. It had been a year where all of our efforts went to vain, and all of our ideas were never able to be concretized because of external mishappenings, or because we didn’t have the resources to do so.
Uzina is a huge space. Only cleaning it takes hours. Most of our energy would be spent on just trying to maintain the physical space itself. What we needed was a head-start, and no more waiting for the municipality to be responsive to the basic needs of the space.
We dedicated the summer to scouting for a new space, a location that would provide us with independence from any external institution. We decided to share the space of Tirana Backpackers Hostel with the ngo Tek Bunkeri. This by no means doesn’t result in giving up the original space. One of our biggest projects which is a Creativity Module is taking place in that neighborhood, so we remain dedicated to further strengthening the connection with the community in that area.
Now at Uzina 2.0, the energy we would previously spent on bureaucracy and maintenance of the physical building can be transferred to implementing events, a solidified programme and truly providing an open, inclusive, free (and accessible!) space.