SHARE Tirana/ Albania 2019 - International Architecture and Engineering Forum, 28th February 2019. Plaza Hotel

The Consultative Council of Architects in Central and Eastern Europe (CCA-CEE) had invited Prof. Rainer Schmidt as Keynote Speaker to hold a plenary lecture with reference to a broad selection of his work. He was called to become a member of the SHARE SOCIETY Title and content of the lecture: “Landscape ARCHITECTURE– Creating a Location”: The eras of modernity and of post-modernity have passed their expiry date since around 10 years. Since then, a new search for values in urban space, - its structure, texture and materiality -, has globally emerged, looking for the specifics of location and local conditions of its making. The title “Landscape Architecture – Creating a Location” tackles these issues from the point of view of a contemporary and innovative Landscape Urbanism which – as a philosophy - has broken with the obsolete values of functionalism throughout both the phases of modernity and of post-modernity. Instead, meaning of space – as a perspective for people - is requested in locally specific conditions, bringing together solutions for maintaining and renewing cultural landscapes under the image of “socio-psychological health”. Such solutions are worked on by holistic concepts, always starting from premises about topography, geography, nature in place, i.e. climate, soil, air and water …  – in the outcomes of implemented projects – to be finally perceived and appreciated as “healthy living and working environments for people”.