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Reinier de Graaf’s open letter in The Albanian Files has become a symbol of the troubling relationship between global architecture, political patronage and one-man rule in Albania.
The following open letter by Dutch architect Reinier de Graaf, partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, has become one of the most controversial passages in The Albanian Files, the newly published volume on Albania’s architectural transformation.
Written in March 2025, ahead of Albania’s parliamentary elections, the letter praises Prime Minister Edi Rama’s patronage of international architecture but then goes much further. De Graaf suggests that, “for us architects,” it would be better if Albania’s elections were simply cancelled, and that the country might never hold elections again. He even proposes that Rama, after a fifth consecutive term as prime minister, continue as president for life — “maybe even King.”Rama is currently serving his fourth term, while Albania has been shaken by mass civic protests over controversial development projects, opaque construction interests and the concentration of political power. In that context, de Graaf’s letter has been read by critics not merely as irony, but as a revealing document about the relationship between global architecture, political patronage and one-man rule.
For supporters of Rama, the letter is satirical and proves the editorial freedom of the book. For critics, it exposes something far more troubling: the willingness of celebrated international architects to romanticize autocratic power when that power provides commissions, visibility and access.
Below is the letter in full.
An open letter to Edi Rama
Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania
Rotterdam, March 3, 2025
Your excellency / dear Edi,
Please forgive me for addressing you in this form. You may not remember me; we only met once, and I am merely one of many foreign architects currently working in your country. I am writing to express my gratitude for the opportunity to work in Albania and also my broader admiration for everything you have achieved since you became prime minister a little over a decade ago.
Under your rule, Albania has acquired near model-status. Multiple religious and ethnic groups are peacefully living together; there is an effective separation of church(es) and state; a young working populace keeps an economy afloat; labor participation by women is high and steadily on the increase; Albania is actively seeking EU membership and, not to forget, it has excellent taste in architecture.
In an unruly world, Albania is beginning to feel like the hopeful exception: pro-international collaboration, pro-progressive values and, perhaps most importantly, pro-reason — a beacon of enlightenment against the odds.
The purpose of my writing, however, goes beyond flattery. I’m writing to you because I’m worried. At this moment, your party is seeking a fourth consecutive term. I can only hope they succeed. It is difficult to picture a new regime taking care of architects as well as the current one.
Our profession is historically dependent on political patronage and certain somber thoughts have been going through my head lately. What will happen if the Socialists do not win the election? Will this mecca of contemporary architecture abruptly come to an end? Will a seemingly inexhaustible well of work suddenly dry up? Might the ArchiArmy have to lay down its arms as expediently as it was mobilized?
I don’t say this lightly, but for us architects, it would be best if the upcoming elections were simply called off. I would even go a step further. Given Albania’s enduring status as an enlightened architectural patron, our profession would benefit greatly if the country never had another election again, and if you, after your fifth consecutive term as prime minister, would just continue as president for life — maybe even King.
Major historical events are unfolding as we speak. Autocracy is rapidly gaining ground as the definitive form of twenty-first-century government. Hopes of a productive alternative are shattered on a daily basis. We seem to be witnessing the end of The End of History. In that context, my plea is as simple as it is straightforward: In a world of autocracies, may we have one benevolent autocrat with taste?
I know that what I am asking of you is no small sacrifice, yet it is one of momentous importance. I hope you will consider.
Yours sincerely,
Reinier de Graaf
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Reinier de Graaf is a Dutch architect, urbanist, theorist and writer, born in 1964 in Schiedam, the Netherlands. He is a partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA),which he joined in 1996, and is one of the firm’s longest-serving non-founding partners. His work includes major architectural and urban projects in Europe and the Middle East, among them De Rotterdam, Timmerhuis, nhow RAI Hotel Amsterdam, and Norra Tornen in Stockholm. He is also known for his critical writings on architecture, politics and urban development, including Four Walls and a Roof, The Masterplan, and Architect, Verb.
