Tirana’s city center has become a showcase for internationally designed buildings, from a tree-covered tower by Stefano Boeri to an MVRDV condominium shaped like a human head. The projects reflect a building boom promoted by Prime Minister Edi Rama, but they have also become a focus of public discontent amid protests and debate over opportunities for Albanian architects.
Rama says architecture can influence society and has backed or encouraged more than 50 international architecture competitions since becoming Tirana’s mayor and later prime minister. According to Adelina Greca, who leads the National Territorial Planning Agency, foreign architects won 48 of those competitions; Albanian firms working alone won two. Foreign winners must work with architects licensed in Albania.
The results include the Tirana Pyramid, transformed into a public amenity by Rotterdam-based MVRDV, a green tower by Italian architect Stefano Boeri, and the Plaza Hotel by Belgian firm 51N4E. MVRDV also designed a condominium whose facade forms a face. The architects identify it as Skanderbeg, a 15th-century Albanian military figure, while some residents associate it with Rama. The prime minister calls both interpretations urban legends.
The projects have not been universally welcomed. Protesters have called for international “starchitects” to leave, and some Albanian architects question whether foreign firms are taking work from local practices. Johan Anrys of 51N4E said his Tirana studio employs 20 Albanian architects and argued that foreign firms have brought local architects more work than they have taken.
Protests that began in May intensified in the autumn. Some demonstrations damaged buildings, including the Tirana Pyramid, while clashes also left hundreds injured, according to authorities. Opposition to foreign architecture became linked with environmental and anti-Trump sentiment after Rama backed efforts by a company associated with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to develop luxury resorts on previously undeveloped land.
The scale of the architectural ambitions is larger than what has been built so far. Anneke Abhelakh’s book “The Albanian Files” describes work by 60 foreign firms and lists more than 500 projects, of which about one-tenth have been completed. Rama has also suggested turning the book into a museum, with exhibition space for each firm, and said its designer would be selected through an international competition.
Sources: Architectural Digest.