Bjarke Ingels Group has been tapped to design the New National Theater of Albania, a 3-in-1 cultural venue tailored to the thriving cultural scene of the country's capital of Tirana. The new, 9,300 square meter contemporary building will be located in the heart of downtown, adjacent to the iconic Skanderbeg Square, the National Opera and the National Art Gallery.
Shaped like a giant bow-tie, the cultural space will replace the existing National Theater, designed by the Italian architect Giuglio Bertè and built during the Second World War. It will also add three new indoor performance spaces, a rooftop amphitheater as well as a covered public space underneath the building.
"Tirana is going through an era of unprecedented transformation and innovation" the city's mayor Erion Veliaj said. "BIG’s new theater will become a crown-jewel of this transformation in the heart of the capital! The “bow-tie” will tie together artists, dreamers, talents and the aspirations of a city going on fifth gear yearning for constant change and place-making."
The announcement has, however, sparked criticism from many who feel the decision is more about freeing up public land for high-rise towers in some of the most expensive parts of the city, rather than about building a new theater. The current one, which Prime Minister Edi Rama fiercely defends as too degraded to renovate with only government funds, comprises thousands of square meters of public land that is to be redeveloped through Public Private Partnerships.
Anyhow, the press release for the project stresses that BIG's design will reclaim and reinforce the city’s goal for more urban gathering places in Tirana. “Our design for the new National Theatre of Albania will continue the city’s efforts for making Tirana’s public spaces more inviting and its public institutions more transparent" said Bjarke Ingels.
The two main glass facades of the National Theatre of Albania, reveal their interior program, "like rooms in a doll house", and expose the spaces inside the building to the public outside. The prism shaped volume of the building arches up to create a covered, entrance canopy that connects public plazas on both sides of the theater at street level. On top, the roof, mirroring the below archway, forms an open-air amphitheater with views of the city skyline.
For the project, BIG enlisted the help of Theatre Projects, a Paris-based consulting group at the cutting-edge of theater design, responsible for projects such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Oslo Opera House, the Theatre for a New Audience, and many more. This will be BIG's first project in the country, and the first time an architect of this stature has designed a major civic building in the country. The firm's roster of cultural projects includes the recently completed LEGO house, the TIRPITZ museum, the currently in construction MECA in Bordeaux, and a pro sports stadium in Austin.
6 Comments
Form is an empty academic exercise.
Oldskool BIG.
Who ever photoshoped the people in the bar image needs to go back to 1st year.
I wonder how many of the women in the renderings BIG sexually harassed?
uh oh... that’s the least surprising thing I’ve heard
We are a "young architecture company" lol.
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