This year’s theme, Landscapes of Abundance, shifts attention from isolated buildings to the spaces between them: the landscapes, ecologies, infrastructures, and living systems that shape Albania. It’s a fitting focus for Studio Egret West, where we have always championed the idea that the magic happens in the spaces between buildings - the public realm, or as we like to call it, the glue.
Founding Partner David West and Director of Landscape Duncan Paybody will be attending the festival. Duncan has been leading the design of Mayfield Park in Manchester since 2016, a new floodable urban park and sequence of public realm spaces shaped through local material reuse, sustainable design principles, and the integration of people and wildlife-friendly environments.
David West is a leading advocate for integrated urban and landscape design that prioritises ecology and regenerative urbanism. He will join the “Becoming Friends with Floods” panel to discuss how architecture and territorial planning can move beyond containment, imagining cities that engage positively with natural water cycles and become more resilient for our collective future.
The panel features Dong Wang (Turenscape), Bjarke Ingels (BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group), Michiel Van Driessche, David West (Studio Egret West), and Benjamin Walker (LDA Design), and will be moderated by Michiel van Iersel.
The festival brings together an extraordinary group of thinkers and practitioners in Tirana to rethink our relationship with the environment. Becoming Friends with Floods moves the conversation beyond defensive walls and towards landscapes that absorb, adapt to, and coexist with water.
Join us as we explore how floodable landscapes and sponge-city strategies can help shape a more resilient, adaptive, and collective future.