Architectural Decorative Elements of Tirana Traditional Villas: The Italian Impact

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the architectonic details of traditional villas, during the years 1920-1950, in Tirana, Albania. The impact of the Italian architecture is studied. The research is focused on the categorization of the traditional villas, based on the urban situation and the construction period. Firstly, the study analyses and compares the details of the façade such as I) entrance, II) stairs, III) volume composition, IV) terrace and V) windows. Then, the villas are classified accordingly based on their features. The results concluded that the detailed comparison of the traditional villas in terms of decorative features could be of valuable information for the design of the modern buildings in Albania by using traditional elements. In addition, the study addresses the importance of the conservation and assessment of the maintaining all of these elements.