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MVRDV completes transformation of communist-era Tirana Pyramid monument in Albania

2023-10-17T20:11:00-04:00

The transformation of an aging brutalist monument to communism into a new tech education center geared toward teenagers in the capital city of Albania has been officially inaugurated following a three-and-a-half-year revitalization effort led by MVRDV.

The project remade the 127,000-square-foot Pyramid of Tirana, first established as a museum dedicated to the legacy of dictator Enver Hoxha in 1988, into the centerpiece of a new cultural hub and park space located in the heart of the city.

Image: © Ossip van Duivenbode/MVRDV

Brightly-colored boxes are stacked within, around, and on top of the original structure, providing areas for education and events programming, while the addition of outdoor steps to its sloping beams creates intriguing new public space possibilities for visitors. Some see it as a testament to the country’s dogged ability to overcome the collective memory of the Hoxha regime. MVRDV hopes it will turn into a “carrier” for the cult...

MVRDV transforms dated communist monument into dynamic cultural center

2021-02-18T14:33:00-05:00

Construction has started on the Pyramid of Tirana, the brutalist monument in the heart of Albania’s capital city. The renovation was designed by MVRDV and will transform the building into a dynamic cultural hub, undoing its previous status as a showpiece of Communist dictator Enver Hoxha.

MVRDV's design will open up the building, of which the concrete structure will be reused, by stripping the work from previous partially completed renovations. Moreover, trees and other greenery will soften the materiality of the space, while boxes containing individual rooms placed in and around the structure, will create a "village of classrooms, studios, cafes, and restaurants."

"Working on a brutalist monument like the Pyramid is a dream," said Winy Maas, founding partner at MVRDV. "It is striking and interesting to see how the country struggled with the future of the building, which on one hand is a controversial chapter in the country's history, and on the other hand has already been partly re...

Albania's communist-era pyramid will be transformed by MVRDV into a Center for Technology, Art and Culture

2018-05-18T14:33:00-04:00

A bizarre building in the middle of Albania's capital, the Pyramid of Tirana has been the site of continuous debate over its uncertain future. Built as a monument to the country's Stalinist leader, Enver Hoxha, construction of the pyramid-shaped structure completed shortly before the collapse of communism.

As national attitudes began to change, the building shifted from a museum to a convention center, and has since functioned as a military base for NATO, a television studio, and a nightclub. Though not in complete disuse, the pyramid has sat dilapidated and vandalized for the past decade amidst debates over its preservation. The government had wanted to raze the structure in order to build a sleek new parliament building, but citizens and activists have wanted to see their communist heritage, however dark, preserved.

Image: Gent Onuzi

This is all to change now as designs to transform the communist-era pyramid into a Center for Technology, Art and Culture have been revealed. “The Py...

Hoxha’s Pyramid

2011-08-02T17:27:00-04:00

Albanians have been trying to figure out what to do with the pyramid for years. Just last month, the parliament passed a law to tear it down. Even so, opponents of the demolition are gathering petitions to save the building. And the current president is deciding whether to sign the bill or side with the protesters.