Prishtina capital-Publication

bad architects group publication ‘Prishtina capital’ is available since march 1st.

The publication edited by ursula faix and paul burgstaller contains contributions by Edmond Hajrizi, Thomas Hrabal, Georg Grasser, Binak Beqaj, Arno Ritter and students' projects from the university of business and technology, Prishtina.

The basic idea behind this publication was the editors’ wish to publish the students’ project of the ‘City Planning’ design studio during the winter semester 2007/2008. These projects envision the dreams and hopes for the future development of the city of a young generation who has directly lived a war or at least followed it in exile abroad.

One envelope for the projects, providing the students with background information, are articles and texts written by our colleagues, most of them teaching at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Business and Technology (UBT). These texts present a view of the city from the outside produced by periodical visits to Prishtina and research on the city reflecting on the changing conditions of Prishtina as the capital of a newborn state. In this transition phase new identities, potentials and a legal basis are emerging, together with some problems.

The photographic part is a city portrait by the Austrian architectural photographer Günter Richard Wett; it presents a view of the city by a person who is visiting Prishtina for the first time in his life. The images by Günter Richard Wett are so outstanding, that they have become the (silent) envelope for both, the texts and projects. All images tell stories and many are worth more than a whole article. We also hope that this publication will contribute to diversifying the image of Kosovo in Austria and foster the urban discourse on Prishtina.