The article presents the outcomes of a monitoring campaign and a survey performed in a~school building in Tirana. Included in the Bilateral Agreement between the National Research Council of Italy and the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Albania, the research is based on environmental analysis, collection of data from monitoring of environmental variables and students' feedback. The monitoring of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) was carried out with a~nearable Environmental Monitoring System (nEMoS) for IEQ purposes, designed and developed by ITC-CNR based on the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) philosophy. The proliferation of the maker movement philosophy has promoted the diffusion of DIY-based technologies. The spread of this movement is observed outside schools but there is a growing interest among educators to introduce this philosophy in the students' education, approaching to STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics) in a different and more stimulating way. The application of two nEMoS devices in two classrooms (in different locations) aroused the curiosity of students, bringing them closer to the world of technology with a practical example. It also increased their awareness about the overall IEQ conditions in the classrooms where they spend a considerable part of their lives.

In primitive societies, houses were built using local materials. In Albania, the highlands often used stone whereas the lowlands and valleys, particularly those close to the coast, were more likely to employ adobe and bricks. In the coastal plain, due to the shortage of stone sources and the ease of accessing mud material nearby, mud bricks were largely used both for urban and rural buildings. Most of the earth architecture in Albania dates back to the Ottoman era. Other structures made of mud bricks were built up to the early 1990s. The majority of them have been demolished, abandoned, and fallen into ruin. Nowadays, traditional adobe building techniques are vanishing, because they are no longer used in modern constructions. Examining the theoretical foundations and structural components of Albania's traditional earthen architecture is the main goal of this study. The classification of earth architecture techniques used in various traditional building typologies is achieved by examining the spatial distribution of housing typologies, the structural components, and construction systems in different geographical locations. This study reports an assessment that is based on extensive in-situ research, including field survey, archival research, comprehensive pictures, recording of various adobe building types in Albania, and a literature review. Based on the collected data and critical assessments, this study intends to offer and document various earthen building typologies in Albania according to their spatial distribution in the plan, volume, construction methods, and material combinations. This knowledge may be subsequently utilized as vital information for new vernacular buildings or temporary structures. It aims to provide specific architectural principles and technical criteria for the use of earth in new structures or restoration of existing historical buildings. This study serves as a starting point for further research with the aim of producing an easy-to-follow guide with plans for earthen buildings, from little dwellings to larger ones, by employing several case studies across Albania. Due to the historical, social, and cultural significance of adobe architecture in Albania as well as its advantages in terms of the economy and environment, revitalizing, restoring, and preserving adobe architecture by improving its construction conditions can be an added value for sustainable future development.

The city of Tirana is subject to constant physical and spatial metamorphosis. In its urban territory, the different residential typologies are well distinguished by socio-economic conditions and the technical-constructive characteristics which have been influenced by political development of the country. The multi-family residential buildings from the post-war period up to the 1990s, in addition to the problems that accompanied them from their initial construction, are found today in front of a physical degradation derived from the years they have. Problematic residential spaces are also most of the buildings constructed in the first decade after 1990, characterized by a low technological and housing quality, derived from an uncontrolled and informal development of the building sector. The building quality in this research, is focused on the applied architectural standards, the technological solutions adopted and the energy consumption derived from them. From the analysis made it has been reached in the conclusions that a renewal and requalification process is necessary to reduce the energy waste and to increase the quality of housing within residential spaces. The main objective of this research is to contribute to the sustainable development of the residential area of Tirana, referring to both the architectural and technological scale. Sustainable development in this paper is closely linked to the quality of residential spaces, which is directly related to the quality of life of the inhabitants. Due to the complexity of the urban environment and its transformations over time, the identification of light regeneration and redevelopment strategies is fundamental, minimizing demolition works. This article includes numerous European examples and a theoretical part, from which proposals for the future development of the residential areas of the city of Tirana can be extrapolated.

The article describes the outcomes of the monitoring campaign carried out in an educational building nearby Tirana, capital of Albania. Performed under the bilateral agreement between the National Research Council of Italy and the Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Albania, the study proposes a combined approach for the assessment of the IEQ, not limiting only in the collection of objective data through the environmental monitoring of indoor variables but it also includes the subjective perception of indoor environment by the students through the compilation of a specific questionnaire. The classrooms were also modelled using a parametric model combining the functionalities of Honeybee plugin with OpenStudio and Radiance. The results are illustrated by maps of the indoor microclimate and illuminance with spatial resolution of 0.5 meters and one-hour temporal resolution step. Aggregated index and environmental data derived from models are compared to those monitored with nEMoS. This hybrid method overcomes the drawback caused by a low resolution of the monitoring steps and allows the comparison of the objective and subjective perception of the considered environmental factors, as well as the identification of discrepancies in terms of objective evidence and subjective perception related to the considered environmental factors.

In traditional societies, building construction was related with local materials available in situ. In Albania, traditional architecture is especially built with adobe in the lowest areas, especially near the coast and with stone especially in the mountains. The scarce resources of stone near the coast and the facility to build with mud bricks, has made possible its implementation both in urban and rural dwellings. The greatest number of adobe constructions belongs to the Ottoman period and lasted until the first decades of nineties. This paper focuses in analyzing the design principles and the constructional elements of the traditional earthen architecture in Albania. Through the documentation and study of the local traditional adobe construction systems, it would be more interesting to understand its potential use today. This paper’s analyses are based on large-scale in-situ research made with students in the framework of the restorations course at Polis university, which includes field survey, archival research, detailed photographic recording of the remaining traditional buildings mainly in central Albania and literature review of the main causes of deterioration of adobe structures. Analysis of spatial distribution of housing typologies, basic structural elements, and different construction systems influenced by the geographical position highlight specific earth architecture techniques used in different traditional building typology. Based on the collected data and critical analyses, this paper will provide some useful suggestions concerning the typology, form, and the construction techniques of traditional earth buildings, and it will guide us in finding some techniques currently used for the restoration and preservation of traditional adobe buildings and the use of new earth buildings construction in particular locations.