Steven Holl Architects wins competition for Tirana expo center and wine hotel
By Niall Patrick Walsh|
Monday, Apr 29, 2024
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Steven Holl Architects has won an international competition for the design of a new expo center in Tirana, Albania. Titled ‘Expo Albania,’ the project will also see the construction of an adjacent wine hotel and demonstration vineyards with the potential for wine trade festivals to be held in the expo hall.
The scheme was designed in collaboration with artist Agnieszka Kurant, Atelier 4, Atelier Markgraph, Stoss, and Arup. Among the ecological considerations to inform the project were geothermal heating and cooling, and white solar shingles to help generate electricity. Skylights will provide natural light with the ability to be blackened for events, while a large reflecting pool of recycled rainwater and graywater will be integrated into the public space.
“Art drives the architecture of this new iconic center for Tirana,” the firm explains. “In collaboration with artist Agnieszka Kurant, this iteration of her 'End of Signature' will collect signatures from local Tirana communities and fuse them into a single wandering line. Traversing the rectangular volumes of the expo center, the line shapes the CLT roof trusses in a dancing rhythm.”
News of the scheme comes weeks after Steven Holl Architects celebrated its 50th anniversary, with Holl speaking exclusively to Archinect about the milestone. In February, meanwhile, the firm collaborated with SKUPINA on the Terezín Ghetto Museum in the Czech Republic.
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2 Comments
kjpn · Apr 29, 24 6:03 PM
weird
CC Chiang · Apr 29, 24 6:36 PM
Holl has moved from doing watercolors in bed to sending photos of random scribbles for his interns to turn to buildings
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