The Crown Tirana | MAD Studio

Intervening in an building with a historical character is one of the most complicated challenges that can be assigned to an architect. You have to maintain a balance between the new and the old and at the same time adapt as organically as possible to the new function that will be implemented.

The building was built in 1918 and after some changes of ownership and function arrived in our hands abandoned and degraded.

We had to carry out works with the character of strengthening the existing structure and then creating new spaces for the function of the hotel, spa and restaurant.
Nothing was simple and favorable except our desire and the desire of the investor to carry out the proposed concept to the end.
The challenges have been endless considering the time period of the extension of the project where we have had some events that will be remembered for a long time for everyone such as the pandemic and the earthquake that influenced us to change the predetermined deadlines but also the design philosophy.
Today Boutique Hotel & Spa has opened its doors to accommodate with the best service and the best experience, for tourists who are mostly foreigners.
The building is neoclassical in its typology, but since we are in 2022, a restoration of the neoclassical part of the facade has been done and the proposed new interventions have been carried out in a modern minimalist style. An intervention that allows you to easily understand clearly the periods of intervention in all the historical load that the building carries.

The building has 9 bedrooms divided by categories into junior rooms and suites with a neoclassical style and a bit of modern refreshment in furniture and lighting, paralleling the classical part of the building where they are implemented.
In order to add the function of relaxation as well, we have implemented a small but very functional spa. There is a sauna, hammam, jacuzzi, 'shower experience' and exposure to the Himalayan salt wall.
The reception is the first impact you get on the interior of the building, and it warns you of a fusion in style that will take place inside. The selection of the treatment of the walls as plaster decoration is quite deliberate. The mirrors that are used create the idea of ​​a larger space and the natural light coming in from the staircase window warns of a high foyer.
The use of white color in the entire part treated with neoclassical language, both in the interior and on the facade, was a necessary request from the architects, since the play in the interior should only be done by the light-shadows from the relief of the decorations and the lighting. The material that should have broken the silence was marble. 'Calacatta viola' gives the spaces a more luxurious spirit that brings back the period in which the building was built and the finish that only the upper class could have the privilege to use.
An elevator has been installed in the building that allows visitors and customers to go to the bedrooms or the restaurant floor.
As mentioned before, the restaurant, being part of the modern intervention in the volume of the building, would carry the concept even in the interior without losing the luxurious finishes and the quality it will offer.
The restaurant is conceived as a facility that is both open and closed, enabled by a metal structure with an moveable glass cover. The materials used are vivid marble and brass. This restaurant had to bring to the city something special related to art and sending the visitor to a new atmosphere with the best experience of tasting the best wines and the most delicious food. For this, a bas-relief corner with repeating horses silhouettes and warm lighting has been created. Next to this wall is the "wine library" as we like to call it. Where wine takes its best form of display in the minimalist brass rack.
For all visitors who want to enjoy this experience in a more intimate area we have created a more private area. Two rooms connected to each other where one serves as a dining room with a central table and a dedicated elevator that brings the food directly from the kitchen and the other as a lounge and 'cigar room' with wooden boiserie, a white ceiling and an "aura" lighting on the perimeter of the space.
The last and most interesting is the "French rooftop'' that has the most beautiful view you can get from the building.