In the beginning of September, the city of Tirana and an international jury announced MVRDV winner of the competition for the urban and ecologic masterplan. Dutch office proposed a new dense urban neighborhood with a park and public facilities at the Shore of Tirana Lake, in the south of the Albanian capital.
MVRDV won the competition from among others Bolles + Wilson, David Chipperfield Architects and Carlos Ferrater.
The Tirana Lake can be seen as one of the more highly valuable areas of the town. It is a mini version of the city’s surrounding hills and mountains. It is one of the bigger green areas of the town that is lively but as well somehow dusty. It forms there an important role in the cleaning of the air in the city. And it forms a highly appreciated escape from the town. With the development on the northern plots around the lake, the area can be improved. The project foresees the regeneration of a 20ha site on the north shore of the lake by creating a dense urban neighborhood liberating space for a park, recreational facilities, new public spaces and ecologic interventions.
The cantilevered and leaning buildings allow for a great variety of apartment types, shopping and offices and ‘echo’ the Tirana typology. The stacked and twisted volumes create spectacular public spaces and provide dramatic vistas. Clad in local stones the buildings turn into a series of ‘rocks’, the ‘Tirana Rocks’.
Dense clustering of the program on the lake side allows the site to become part of the chain of parks surrounding the lake. Planting a park of Jacaranda trees will add a new characteristic element to the area and provide natural shade; the tree’s long lasting blue flowers will appear as a ‘blue cloud’. A promenade along the water creates an active social zone that contributes to the idea of a ‘Copa Tirana’.
The masterplan consists of 225.000m2 housing, 60.000m2 offices, 20.000m2 public buildings, 60.000m2 retail, a hotel of 15.000m2 and 20.000m2 sport and recreational facilities and a car park. Start construction is envisioned for 2010, the total estimated investment is 600 million Euro.
Images © MVRDV
Posted by: Eva Prelovšek
