Lost values of the National Theater after the demolition, technical and structural analysis

This study will focus on the context of Tirana's historic buildings, designed during the 1938-1939s. Tirana represents a very special occasion, unique in terms of intertwining Italian architectural design with Albanian motives. This feature has resulted from many political, economic and social factors of the time that fundamentally changed the way of vision and architectural conception in our capital. Every cultural heritage is inseparable from history as a witness of which it is, as well as from the place where it is located. Consequently, complete or partial interventions in a cultural heritage may not be permitted, except cases when the preservation of the heritage requires, or when this is justified by reasons of great national or international interest. This study aims to analyze the restoration of these buildings, by means of seismic retrofit ways, preserving aesthetic and historical values. The main goal is to turn these buildings into full use of their previous function, increase their lifespan or value identification in our case. The focus of this study is the identification of structural problems in these buildings, secondly 3d modeling, simulations, scenario-investigation and in-depth structural analysis. In this work the peculiarities of the global response of old building are shown with the aid of a simplified physical 3d model, realized with SAP2000 software, able to reproduce earthquake damage to composite-masonry buildings and failure modes observed in experimental tests. The application of this methodology to Albanian composite-masonry typologies points out the difficulties related to existing buildings.