TRAUMRAUM looks at how cities are staged and sold, and who disappears from the picture.
It is run by Anila Shehaj, an architect based in Berlin, since 2023.
| What I look at | Anatomy of a Scam. Fake flats in Berlin. The documents scammers ask for are the ones real landlords ask for too. Shadow Builders. Migrant builders: Albanians repairing dry-stone walls in Puglia, Polish workers coming to Berlin by Flixbus. Their names rarely appear in the record. Sine Terræ. Farmland abandoned in Puglia and elsewhere. Project and Propaganda. The propaganda walls of Tirana. The Dreamers. What people build to sleep and live in Berlin’s public space, how they are watched, and what counts as enough space to live. Research just begun. |
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| How I work | I work on subjects that matter to me personally. Much of the work happens in the field. I walk, measure, ask questions and follow things I had not planned to look for. I mix sources and borrow tools from different disciplines, not always using them as intended. Architecture is one of those tools, alongside graphic design, photography and writing. I learn what I need along the way and leave room to improvise. The format varies. Booklets, films, posters, postcards and stickers. Walks and public readings. In Adelfia, a walk with ten works along it. A festival of agricultural films. Research, publications and public work sit in one index because they belong to the same practice. |
| Press | Zimmerdruck. Printing, publishing and graphic design. One room in Berlin, since 2025. I design and print the TRAUMRAUM publications myself. @zimmerdruck.berlin |
| Before | Master of Architecture, IUAV Venice, 2014. Independent architect and project developer in Italy and Albania, 2015–2025: small building projects and permits. More in the CV. |
| Selected | Spotlight LINA Fellow 2026. Berlin Founders Program 2025. |
Short bio
Anila Shehaj is an architect and researcher from Albania, based in Berlin. She studied at IUAV Venice. Through TRAUMRAUM, she looks at how cities are staged and sold, and who disappears from the picture, from fake rental listings in Berlin to migrant builders repairing dry-stone walls in Puglia. Her work combines fieldwork, drawing, photography and writing, and takes different forms, including publications, films and walks. She runs the micro-press Zimmerdruck. Spotlight LINA Fellow 2026.
Free to copy for programmes and announcements.
Contact
Anila Shehaj
Berlin
anila@traumraum.space
@traumraum.space