The following video clip was shot in two locations in northern Albania: Shores of Lake Skadar (or Shkodra or Shkodër) and Valley of Valbonë.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL7kttMjJTQ

And here’s a photo gallery of bunkers from various places in Albania

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtZrqzQaRmU

Let’s enjoy the sites of the snow in Jerusalem…

Jerusalem Snow Panorama – Surrounding the Old City Walls from West to East

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkfOYyom4xI

Snow in Baka and the German Colony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBym8-cmnL8

Some excerpts from the clips…

Video Gallery

Dance of the Waves – in the Old City of Acre (Akko)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZLwo_KzuRw

Galilee Mediterranean Beach and Nahal Kziv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTJ5BBn8ZSQ

Flowing with Nahal Harod

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2tC9z2qJMI

Nahal Sorek and Beit Zayit Reservoir Overflow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpfKWDWxlmM

Photo Gallery

Watch a photo gallery from this impressive day, including the Jordan River, Nahal Amud, Nahal Gamla and its waterfall, Nahal Alexander, and more…

This happy weekend of nature beauty marks 10 years of the photo presentations project :)

Haifa Trail was initiated as an urban trek – a travel/tourism oriented project. During the conference we came to conclusion that the trail is more than that -
as it identifies and leverages Haifa’s essence or "DNA”, it serves as an important platform for various urban aspects, such as: city branding, community empowering, framework for sport and culture activities and a potential to significantly contribute to the local economy.

The Presentation

Lessons

This year, The Haifa Tourism Conference was focused on destination branding. For Haifa this is a highly relevant issue, as the city fails for years to brand itself not only as a tourist destination but even locally  - young Israelis keep leaving the city to live in other settlements.

Many speakers in the conference, including the keynote speaker Prof. Frederic Dimanch from SKEMA business school in France, talked about the "competitive identity” of a destination. If it is a city, identifying its essence, or "DNA”, is crucial for building the brand.

For years, Haifa has been trying to become something else, despite its residents’ protest, who recognize the city’s assets and strengths.

Haifa Trail was initiated as a grass root initiative by people who live in Haifa and familiar with its nooks and crannies. The initial idea was to form a long Urban Trek, traversing the city’s unique landscapes.

Without noticing, Haifa Trail simply gathered the essence of the city into a continuous experience. In a way, it is an actual DNA… a physical, actual, city genome, with 21 chromosomes – the trail segments, each one uncovering a unique aspect of the city…

So Haifa Trail is not only an Urban Trek intended for tourists for hiking or running. It is a platform. It is a base for subjects and activities to be built upon:  Connection to the hometown,  Sense of community, Community empowering and activities, cultural events, sport events, small businesses development, a thread for unique identity, and more.

This is how an Urban Trek or Urban Trail can be the actual DNA of the city.

Some photos

Thomas was the first to complete the whole trail, the first tourist on the trail, and the first to run it.

Congratulations Thomas!

More information about the trail in Haifa Trail Website and in Haifa Trail Facebook Page.

Watch the picture gallery of the run

12►

Watch a local news item (Hebrew)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMZ6uCnHth8

Item by Orit Karzbom, Photographer Pavel Kogan, Editor Fares Wahaba

In the previous parts we did some urban exploration in Fier’s inactive thermal power plant and in the former fertilizer factory with its monumental concrete elements.

Exploring these sites reveal a unique industrial architectural legacy. In this 1981 article from "Albania Today” you can get some idea about the importance of industry during Albania’s communist era.

When communism collapsed, Albanias rushed to demolish everything related to the tough communist regime.

Today, these concrete structures serve as monuments to a period that many Albanians wish to forget. Some Albanians do speak about the advantages of that period – everybody had work, living and security.

Reuse, Repurpose ?!

In any case, these structures can be used in two, maybe contradicting ways – preserved as they are to remind us of these other days, or reused with an added value to serve as something new, symbolizing a triumph on communist era.

For the people of Albania, the second option can serve as a catharsis while bringing a world class attraction to the country, an important asset considering tourism as a major potential for economic growth in developing Albania.

Just to play with the idea, take a look at the new Berat university campus.

This neoclassic -”Capitol like” – building is strange to its environment – the magnificent Balkan architecture as well as the modern concrete buildings.

Here’s an inside view of the dome of the newly built monumental campus

And here’s an industrial dome structure located in an interesting built environment

Can we achieve a similar dome effect reusing the old industrial dome…?

Now let’s take a look at Fier new university building advertisement:

And a video describing the university

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPvPLUizvOQ

Again, a neoclassic structure trying to give something new to the Albanian built environment.
Well, the factory can be used as an extension to the university, another academic campus, a campus for other industries, extreme park…
There is an abundance of successful case studies of industrial structures reuse / repurposing.  Here are a few:

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex

Emscher Park

London’s Battersea Power Station To Get Major Eco-Renovation

London’s Tate Modern

Playing with structures

As a first step towards understanding the site in Fier and its reuse potential, here’s an analysis of the remaining concrete structures on site.
Following is a simplified representation of Fier’s industrial structures -
let’s call them the elements:

from left to right: The Diagonal, The Tower, The Dome, The Grid, The Hyperboloid, The Chimney, The Assisted Tower, The Warehouse

and here’s a graphic collage

Let’s build something from these elements

From the top they create an interesting composition

By understanding the various elements and their spatial relationships on site, we can start building a new meaning to the site.

A program can evolve from such an analysis or be brought "from the outside” and adopted to the site…

I hope the above can serve as an inspiration for investors, architects, planners and Albanians that now return home from other countries, trying to give new life and fresh meaning to Albania.

Let’s start with a short video introduction:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnW2cbXAlK4

The reason I rushed back to see the northern part of the site was the following sight – looking into the site from the main street I couldn’t resist imagining a campus main boulevard, with impressive faculty buildings surrounding it

In this part of the site, only big concrete structures remained, after all the metal parts – tanks, pipes, beams, etc… were removed and sold for millions to be recycled, involving a corruption issue…

We now approach the site from the north and enter the site through the non existing fence

The wonderful geometric compositions created by the distinct concrete structures are something I haven’t seen in industrial sites before

The "Inclined” structures are above us

Walking up the "Inclined” – this is a museum gallery – ready place!

Peep show

"Thing” is here ?? ("The Addams Family")

Just nearby is the "Rectangular Hall”

with its unique industrial "Mashrabia” detail

We now approach the "Tower”

And look up from its bottom

A romantic touristic view point

We climb up

and look down inside the tower

About 50 meters above ground we get an amazing view of the whole industrial campus, from north to south.
On the upper-right side of the picture we see the three cooling towers we saw on part 1, and left of them is the power plant main hall and tall chimneys.
The northern area of the site contains an interesting combination of concrete structures with distinct shapes. The hyperboloid cooling towers draw a unique attention in the overall composition of the site. In total, there are 7 cooling towers scattered on this site.

Another interesting structure that can be seen in several places on the site  is the "Dome”

In the dome center, remains make an interesting color mix

We conclude with a "Dome” panorama

In the next part we shall deepen the architectural analysis of the site, and wonder about repurposing it, in light of the new monumental buildings being built for Fier and Berat universities.

Some interesting Albania vintage links:

A 1970′s view of the "Gogo Nushi” nitrogen fertilizer factory when it actually worked

A wonderful collection of photos from Albania taken between 1939 and 1992

Some interesting Urban Exploration stuff:

Urban Exploration

"Forbidden – Places”

"28 Days Later”

Flickr Urban Exploration group

It was a casual (if you can call rides in Albania ‘casual’) Furgon ride from Vlora to Berat via Fier. Approaching Fier,  I couldn’t ignore the huge industrial structures seen from behind houses and fields on the city outskirts. When we reached Berat I rushed to the nearest Internet Cafe to find out more about this place: A 1.5 square Kilometers site, of Fier’s thermal power plant and fertilizers factory, inactive for years, as most of the communist-era factories. For me it was now a mysterious concrete amusement park waiting to be explored… But more than that – these colossal, monumental industrial structures are a vanishing architectural legacy, screaming for preservation, and in an era of building reuse, repurposing of these structures may create a world class attraction in Albania.

In this three parts report we shall explore the industrial remains, admire their uniqueness and wonder about repurposing them, in light of the large university buildings being built in Fier and Berat.

Part 1 – The southern area – Thermal power plant – Spooky remains

When I returned to Fier for exploration, I approached the area from south. Fier (or Fieri) is not a large city – its population is about 85,000 people, and the site can be easily approached by half an hour walk from the center. On the way, a surreal sight: Farmers cultivating their small field, with the giant concrete megaliths on the background

South-west of the plant, the sight gets an interesting rural appeal

Old industrial stuff and a good old tractor.

The location of these three majestic cooling towers forms an arch, thus, creates an interesting composition from a distance.

The main production hall of the inactive power plant is seen behind. A transformation substation on the site is still active.

Nature reclaims its land

Old cylindrical tanks create an intriguing sight of shape and color

Not to mention the texture of the crumbling concrete of the chimney and its metal ladder

And here’s an extreme schoolyard installation

Elevations of the main building are quite remarkable, with a charming ocher patina look…

This mini tower with its interesting round-octagonal shape and handsome pipe, marks the beginning of the northern part of the site, which we shall visit on the part 2 of this report

We conclude with a view to the main streets leading to the industrial site

Continue to part 2 – visiting the north part of the site – Fier’s nitrogen fertilizer factory