Building Architecture Culture Public Programme accompanies Albania’s participation in the Biennale Architettura 2025 curated by Anneke Abhelakh. This series is developed around a number of conversations hosted within the Albanian pavilion throughout May - November 2025 where a group of interdisciplinary guests will convene to discuss and explore Albania’s evolving architectural identity.

Titled “Building Architecture Culture”, the Albanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale highlights the reciprocal relationship between architecture and society. The discipline extends beyond practice to academia and the broader public sphere, where spatial ideas are shared, debated, and reflected upon. This third sphere ideally serves as the conscience of the profession. The Albanian pavilion and its public program of talks act as a temporary version of this space. You can listen to all episodes on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Episode 1 | Welcome from the curator, Anneke Abhelakh

In this first episode of the series, we sit down with the curator of Albania’s participation in 19th International Architecture Exhibition, Anneke Abhelakh, to reflect upon the exhibition and its ambition to explore the reciprocal relationship between architecture, national discourse and society.

Episode 2 | On Agency, with Andi Eftimi and Elidor Mëhilli

The second episode of the Building Architecture Culture Public Programme, titled On Agency, brings together architect and urban planner Andi Eftimi and historian Elidor Mëhilli to discuss the evolution of architecture in Albania, focusing on the transition from socialist ideologies to post-communist practices. In Albania, architects work with unusual freedom—but also face the challenge of serving the collective good. How will this tension shape the future of the profession in a country still in transition?

Episode 3 | On Freedom, with Nebi Bardhoshi, Elisabetta Terragni and Lea Ypi

The third episode of the Building Architecture Culture Public Programme, titled On Freedom, brings together anthropologist and curator Nebi Bardhoshi, architect and educator Elisabetta Terragni and political theorist and historian Lea Ypi to discuss the transition of Albania from a totalitarian regime to a liberal democracy, focusing on the concept of freedom and its impact on the built environment. What kind of freedom is truly needed? One that liberates the individual or one that sustains the collective?

Bios

Anneke Abhelakh is an independent curator, writer, and researcher based in Zurich who develops projects in the field of contemporary art, architecture, and public space. She has worked at the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) as assistant curator, curator, and intermediate chief-curator. At the NAI she established the “Studio for Unsolicited Architecture.” Anneke joined AMO to lead the OMA Progress exhibition at the Barbican and was the head of Public Program at The Berlage in Delft. She taught her course “Exhibiting Architecture” at ETH Zurich. At Dropcity in Milan, she was making the public program called “on Public Agency” in 2023, and “Architecting the Future” in 2024. Anneke was the first artistic director at Zentrum Architektur Zurich and currently she is the curator of the Albanian pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2025.

Andi Arifaj is an architect whose work explores simplicity and a deep sensitivity to place. He co-founded aa.arkitektur in 2020, focusing on design, research, and critical practice. Since 2022, he has taught at the Polytechnic University of Tirana. Arifaj also curates lectures, exhibitions, and visual studies that examine Albania’s evolving built environment.

Nebi Bardhoshi is an anthropologist and curator whose work explores folklore, nationalism, and the politics of cultural heritage in Albania. As director of the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Art Studies, he has contributed significantly to the critical study of identity, state formation, and collective memory. Bardhoshi holds a doctorate in anthropology and has taught at various universities in Albania. His research often draws on ethnographic fieldwork and historical archives, challenging dominant narratives and offering new perspectives on Albania’s social fabric.

Andi Eftimi is an architect and urban planner, serving as a partner at Atelier 4, an Albanian architecture and planning studio. His work spans residential, commercial, and public projects, engaging with Albania’s evolving architectural landscape from post-socialist urban transitions to contemporary large-scale developments. Eftimi has collaborated with international firms such as 51N4E, Archea Associati, and MVRDV, contributing to transformative architectural and urban design projects in Albania and beyond.

Elidor Mëhilli is a historian specializing in modern Europe, authoritarian regimes, and transnational history, with a focus on socialism and the Cold War. His research, particularly in From Stalin to Mao: Albania and the Socialist World, explores Albania’s architectural and industrial landscapes within broader ideological frameworks. Mëhilli, originally from Albania, is a professor at Hunter College, CUNY, and has been a visiting scholar at institutions such as Columbia University and the Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung.

Elisabetta Terragni is an architect and educator specializing in memory, space, and adaptive reuse. She has played a key role in preserving and interpreting Albania’s architectural heritage as the curator of The House of Leaves (Albania’s Museum of Secret Surveillance) and Kadare House, spaces that reveal layers of the country’s past. Terragni is a professor at City College of New York, where she explores the relationship between built environments and collective memory in transitioning societies.

Lea Ypi is a political theorist and historian specializing in Marxism, political philosophy, and the intellectual history of socialism. Her memoir Free: Coming of Age at the End of History critically examines Albania’s transition from dictatorship to democracy, questioning the meaning of freedom in both systems. Ypi, originally from Albania, is a professor at the London School of Economics and a prominent voice in debates on ideology, individual agency, and historical continuity.

Federica Zambeletti is the founder and creative director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher and storyteller whose interests lie at the intersection of art, architecture and regenerative practices. Prior to dedicating her full attention to KoozArch in 2024, Federica collaborated with the architecture studio and non-profit agency for change UNA/UNLESS working on numerous cultural projects and the research of "Antarctic Resolution".