The Austrian architecture firm coop himmelb(l)au has won the competition to design the new “open” parliament of the Republic of Albania in Tirana. The project, which occupies a site of 28,000 sq.m., is also the first that the internationally renowned firm has undertaken in the country.
According to the design, the complex is placed on the city’s building axis and is intended to make a strong statement. It expresses a deliberately contemporary architectural character, acts as a visual landmark within the urban fabric and is a bold depiction of the future political centre of the Republic of Albania.
Wolf d. Prix, design principal and CEO of coop himmelb(l)au, stresses that by incorporating various structural elements that reflect the fundamental principles of democracy, such as honesty, transparency and participation, their design makes the new parliament a “mirror of democracy”.
At the heart of the building, a glass cone houses the parliamentary chamber and rises to the level of the offices, which are wrapped in an outer curtain of perforated steel panels. A wide staircase that starts at the base and ends on the roof of the adobe building works like a raised plaza, offering unrestricted views into the interior of the parliament.
The final design of the building incorporates a number of passive systems that ensure optimum energy performance while reducing the use of polluting fossil solid fuels. The dynamic outer skin surrounding the office building responds to environmental conditions, maximises views and significantly improves the distribution of natural light, as well as thermal and acoustic insulation and natural ventilation.
Text: Eirini Maraki
Source: designboom.com
