"Architectural Alchemy: Transforming Spaces, Shaping Dreams"

PORTFOLIO

ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN

ELDJONA MATAJ

TABLE OF CONTENT

Public spaces in rural Denmark Research project

Place For Community

Master thesis project

Sustainable Urban Transormation of the harbour area

Master project

Portals into the wild world

Master project

Port in Motion

Master project

Center for the support of marine activities & the promotion of the archaeological sites Bachelor thesis project

‘Public spaces in rural Denmark’

On the Trail of Everyday Life’s / Village Space

Research project (Morsø, Skive and Vesthimmerlands Municipalities)

The pilot research project examines physical spaces in smaller villages (less than 1,000 inhabitants), which are often not the subject of a research-professional look or a clear development agenda, but at the same time constitute permanent and significant areas for everyday life in rural areas. This project openly seeks to contribute to an increased understanding of the village space of everyday life both in relation to the physical-spatial structures and roles. This takes place through a phase-divided process of approx. 1 year, which includes desktop studies and fieldwork based on an analytical model used in the mapping of the village spaces in the selected villages. The aim is to understand better the village spaces, including their materiality, function, and basic conditions. In addition, the mapping must contribute to a qualification of an incipient typologisation of the Danish rural areas in the rural areas. The pilot project hereby addresses the statutory municipal task with strategic planning for villages, without, however, preparing specific recommendations for this.

Research Team : Accosiate Professor

Ditte Bendix Lanng, Accosiate Professor

Lea Holst Laursen, Assistant Professor

Tina Vestermann Olsen (Sep.2021Dec.2022, Denmark, Aalborg )

Section A-A’ 1:500 1:1.000 Plan Diagram

Spatial

Territorial scale mapping analysis

7 selected villages from 64 # Overview/ Inhabitants & population development/ Functions/ Infrastracture/ Landscape/ Geological conditions

Design Consept

Masterplan

Place For Community

Master Thesis project, 2022 (Sydenhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark)

A general desire for more housing, privacy, elbow room and cars can challenge the design of New urbanist inspired approaches. For every household willing to buy a unit in a central mixed-use area, another wishes to choose a more suburb-like neighbourhood (Grant, 2006). This master plan aims to please both households. With the diversity, inspired by the transect, both ways of living; in a small row houses, roads and block/courtyard areas can be fulfilled. Moreover, ways to experience and escape them both, are possible within a short distance and time.

The master plan is designed to reflect the existing typology of Sydhavnen. This aims to ease the conflict of a cultural split in Sydhavnen, by providing physical spaces that can please the full district, no matter if you live or visit the site. Finally, the proposal provides the environment that all residents of the district can mirror themself in, and see a more coherent future for Sydhavnen.

The public environment will enrich the full Sydhavn and connect access from the surrounding areas. The focus on community and the existing local wishes may foster a better social environment and a willingness to engage in the new neighbourhood as a connected community throughout Sydhavnen. The designed places and environments willfurther invite all the residents and users of the local neighbourhood to interact and make use of it on an everyday basis, providing social and environmental stimulation to the individual as well as the community.

Typologies Proposal Diagram

Function Proposal Diagram

Row Houses

Courtyard

The nature park improves the urban environment and the quality of life whilst increasing health, biodiversity and offering an encounter with people and nature. Being part of this nature experience is a great chance to disconnect from the quick everyday rhythms. It offers a stress free journey and stay, while kids are playing, and neighbours are chatting in the background.

The courtyards fety and the sense the monotony points or spaces private space ting the public Further, they create delightful experiences

The nature park improves the urban environment and the quality of life whilst increasing health, biodiversity and offering an encounter with people and nature. Being part of this nature experience is a great chance to disconnect from the quick everyday rhythms. It offers a stress free journey and stay, while kids are playing, and neighbours are chatting in the background.

The Nature park

courtyards work as places which praise sasense of belonging while breaking by offering semi-private meeting spaces to“escape” the road. It provides in front of the entrances, separapublic spaces to private leisure spots. create journey shortcuts to provide experiences and mitigate the wind.

Section A-A’

Section B-B’

Design Consept Masterplan

Sustainable Urban Transormation of the harbour area Master project, 2020 (Struer, Denmark)

´´SENTER´´, the new urban interface between the city centre and the Limfjord. A district in Struer where industrial turns into liveability. SENTER has been developed to experience a new way of combining urban and coastal living. From housing, leisure, work and urban agriculture, SENTER’s diversity of functions is an invitation to infinite urban opportunities. SENTER will be the core element of Struer’s northern urban development. The city is in constant evolution and SENTER tends to be a new central crossing-point. By living-in or experiencing its various leisure opportunities, SENTER will be a new interactive area around the Limfjord.

Specification Details

Water Management Principles

In order to reduce the future climate issues in Struer, measures are required to prevent flooding due to sea-level rise and cloudburst events. The design concept is implemented as a sum of multifunctional urban elements that can be used to hold rainwater runoff and strengthen defences against rising sea levels. The general plan is designed around the terrain hill, the three water canals and the small lake in the Plaza square which operate in parallel as reservation tanks but also as places for play, sitting and recreation, as main water elements in the landscape.

Amphithiater Stairs

Connectios -to and from- The Harbour & The City

The site is a green sanctuary in the middle of a brick city, where you are isolated from the traffic noise and chaos. The site is surrounded by trees and consists of two open spaces that are divided by a wall of trees. Within these open spaces native plants will be planted. The path is going to be a gentle abruption within the nature. The design of the path is inspired by the already existing human imprints and is meant to give sensorial experiences. To bring the human imprint back into the route an interactive wall will be placed so passerby’s can leave their imprints.

Portals into the wild world Master project, 2020 (Hjorring, Denmark)

The Consept

Elevated pathway

Submerged pathway

Proposal/ Deep sensorial site section

Canvas that shows the relation between City-Environment-Geography

Scenery

Sound

Human pathway

Terrain

Soft/concrete ground feeling

Materials

Gateways

Port in Motion Master project, 2021 (Grenaa, Denmark)

The problem statement of this project was ´´How to develop a recreational port for both locals, workers and tourists by enhancing the connection and accessibility between the entrance to the heart of the port?´´ Enhancing the access and strengthening the connection to the port of Grenaa constitute the guideline of “Port in Motion”, a project that relies on soft mobilities in order to transform the port from a place of car transit to a recreational place of discovery. The project will make a point of using way-finding as a key element of the design. It is therefore based on two main phases: attracting users to the entrance of the port, thanks to way-finding, and keeping them there, with design elements and landscape work.

1. Wayfinding proposal

2. Multifunctional furniture

3. Traffic proposal

4. Axometric view of the Masterplan

Masterplan

Designing shapes that favorise multiple uses

Encouraging gathering Multiple vantage points

Choise of strategies

Multifunctional Furniture

Frames

• Explore the urban context through transparency

• Help visitors to navigate

• Creates a destinct image for the site

• Tells a story about the site

Ground material

• Visual guidance towards and along the port

• Calms traffic and protects slow-mobilities

• Creates a sense of safety and comfort at night

Center for the support of marine activities & the promotion of the archaeological sites

Bachelor Thesis, 2019 (Peireas, Greece)

Architecturally designed to create a building whose ´continuation and end´ create a park and an interactive playground for children, highlighting the ancient and sea diving, the triangular shapes were emphasized to allow a slight transition of levels to the interactive energy of the child users. The first purpose was to solve the external ramp which was modeled based on diagonal engravings from the shape of the building. The purpose of the proposal is the creation of landscape architecture. The formation of a landscape form combined with the natural element is perceived as a natural expanse that frames the layers studied. It functions as a painting that the city is invited to see and experience. It harmonizes with the natural environment and draws information from the landscape itself.

By drawing main axes on the sides of the site, main horizontal and vertical axes are created that define an elevation gradient in the intervention plot. The main intention of the building is to fully harmonize with the surrounding space and reflect the layers of the artisan, the natural and the sea. The lateral axes denote the union of the city with the water element and at the same time the users of the local with the transcendental landscape. The vertical axes aim to attract users using the recreation corridor and children coming and going. Polygons are created that define the height difference as well as the public and private zones.

Diagramatical design development

Section- Environmental building conditions in summer

Constructional detail of the building

Constructional detail of the roof

Student Accommodation

Τhe Empty/Full dipole

Bachelor project, 2018 (Kaisariani, Greece)

After visiting the study area, my personal attention was drawn to the intense fluctuations in the height of the buildings. This is due to the difference in the chronology of the buildings and the reason for the refugee houses. This results in a strong escalation of heights that create different escape views. In this case, I defined the geometric strict bulk of the buildings as the ´full´ and the open spaces as the ´empty´ of the area To reinforce this view I have studied the table by P. Modrian Composion A (1923). I defined the colors as the ´full´and the white as the ´empty´ in the canva. There is an interrelated unity between them, as the absence of the complete ones prevents the appearance of a emptiness.

The appearance of the void results from the creation of the full. There is an interconnectedness between them relationship of unity, as the absence of completeness prevents the appearance of emptiness. In this case the white surfaces are the void as perforated openings and the colored surfaces are the full ones compact shapes.

Design Conspet / Diagramatical proposal development

Analysis of the existing conditions in order the design proposal to be harmonised with the sourounding environment

Section A-A’

Section B-B’

Private Shipping Company / Office Building

Professional Experience at SOTOVIKIS + B, 2019 (Athens, Greece)

Team: Anna Litsou, Konstantina Batziou, Eldjona Mataj

Design: August 2019 / Construction: March 2020

Renovation of the office building with interventions for energy upgrading and improvement of work areas without modifications to the existing perimeter of the building. Development of the design concept, elaboration of the floorplans on every level, and facade shape design.

Ground floor plan

Constructional detail Building front view

‘Students Reinventing Cities’ Competition, 2021 (Montreal, Canada)

This project examines the potential that circular urbanism holds as a sustainability strategy for urban redevelopment projects. Currently redevelopments done in a linear process fail to maximise temporal, material, and spatial resources, while at the same time is unsuccessful to address important community needs in redeveloped areas. Alternatively, circular urbanism can be considered as an adaptation of circular economy to the urban redevelopment process, combining urban regeneration, adaptive reuse and multifunctionality practises. The Montreal Faubourgs redevelopment is proposed by C40, a network of cities committed to addressing climate change, in the frame of the competition ‘Students Reinventing Cities’.

Pyramid Emission

Instead of building a new structure to accommodate the community’s needs, functions can be combined in the same space, for different times in a day.

Many elements and building materials can be reused or repurposed which will save embodied energy, free space in landfills, and reduce co2 emission.

Maximising the spatial resource could be the opposite of sprawl, reusing this already urbanised land in the city, sparing nature from being urbanised.

Multifunctional Office Space

Window Reuse as a Community Greenhouse

Community Garden and Farmers Market

Temporal Analysis of an Office Space

Bus stops have potential for interaction, but people currently view waiting time as ”dead time.” This proposal aims to improve waiting time quality at a bus stop in southern Copenhagen. The site is near a transportation hub and a shopping center. The proposal includes wooden elements for seating, bike parking, and planters. Different functions are offered based on the waiting time, with longer waits providing more variety.

Making the wait worthwhile

Tactical Urbanism, Competition , 2023 (Ørestad, Copenhagen, Denmark)

Time zone activities for 5,10 ,15 min. for the eastern bus stop

Time zone activities for 5,10 ,15 min. for the western bus stop View

View 3

View

View

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Furniture Design - Reusable material - Armchair

Volunteering work at Dimitrios Sp. Company , 2017 (Patra, Greece)

Armchair Designed with basic idea the absence of support tools. The purpose of the idea was to push everyone into the process of making it themselves. The main material is by reused old wooden doors.

A piece of furniture made of old wooden doors of an interior space. Furniture of significant necessity where it exists inside a space more than once. (Old doors leave their trace on a new piece of furniture)

Visionary Furniture Design Skeleton & Skin Space

Volunteering work at Dimitrios Sp. Company , 2018 (Patra, Greece)

With a keen focus on the body’s dynamic nature, this masterpiece embodies an exquisite synthesis of form and function, forging an immersive experience that redefines the boundaries of spatial exploration.

‘‘ Architecture is about trying to make the world a little more like our dreams ,,

Sincerely,

Elda Mataj