The Pyramid of Tirana | MVRDV

The Pyramid of Tirana, originally built as a museum dedicated to the communist dictator Enver Hoxha, has been dramatically transformed into a new kind of cultural hub. Reusing the concrete structure, the Pyramid is now an open sculpture in a new park. The park and the sculpture are home to an ensemble of colourful boxes, scattered in and around the original building that house cafés, studios, workshops, start-up offices, incubators, festivals, and classrooms where Albanian youth will learn various technology subjects for free. Steps have been added to the building’s sloping façades, allowing the people of Albania to literally walk all over the showpiece of the former dictator.

Credits

Architect: MVRDV
Founding Partner in charge: Winy Maas Partner: Stefan de Koning
Design Team: Ronald Hoogeveen, Stavros Gargaretas, Guido Boeters, Angel Sanchez Navarro, Boris Tikvarski, Jasper van der Ven, Mirco Facchinelli, Manuel Magnaguagno, Leo Stuckardt
Visualisations: Antonio Luca Coco, Luca Piattelli, Jaroslaw Jeda, Luana La Martina, Gianlorenzo Petrini

Strategy and Development: Willeke Vester, Daan van Gool Copyright: MVRDV Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries

Partners:

Albanian-American Development Foundation (AADF), Municipality of Tirana; Albania Ministry of Culture
Education partner: TUMO Tirana
Co-architect: iRI Architecture

Contractor: Fusha shpk
Project coordination: Albanian-American Development Foundation (AADF) Landscape architect: iRI; JESHILE; MVRDV
Structural engineer: ARUP; Gentian Lipe; Luan Murtaj
MEP: ARUP; iRI; Nikolin Risilia; Artur Dado; Isuf Kore
Monuments Expert: Daniel Gjoni
Cost calculation: iRI Architecture
Environmental advisor: Arben Liçi
Photographs: © Ossip van Duivenbode