Architecture firm MVRDR has won a competition to create a massive sporting complex in Albania’s capital. Part of the new Asllan Rusi mixed-use complex in Tirana, the design is an innovative use of space that combines a sporting arena, hotel, residences, and retail spaces. Taking the shape of a giant sphere, this site will be a welcome addition to Tirana, providing a new space for the public to come together.
Named The Grand Ballroom, the building can pack a lot into a smaller footprint thanks to its spherical size. The hotel and residences are stacked on top of the 6,000-seat arena, occupying the largest diameter of the sphere, which gives more space. The round form also serves to eliminate a main facade, so all sides of the complex serve the surroundings rather than some areas getting neglected. Lastly, the round form carves more space for public plazas and outdoor sporting facilities. And where the sphere meets the ground, stairs lead to a lower floor, which features retail spaces, cafes, and other amenities that support the arena.
The project is filled with smart design features. This includes an internal oculus that allows hotel guests on the upper floors the possibility to watch games in the arena below, thanks to cantilevered amenity spaces that form it. In the upper area where the apartments are located, the sphere’s double-shell structure provides a spacious, semi-domed area that serves as a courtyard garden for residents.
“The Grand Ballroom will become a beacon, aiming to inspire and encourage people to play and to watch sport. A place to play, meet, and celebrate!” Shares MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. “The spherical shape is a reference to the round ball used by so many sports. Yet it also recalls enlightenment temples, from Étienne-Louis Boullée’s Cenotaph for Newton to Buckminster Fuller’s tribute to technological optimism, the geodesic dome. A great sphere in the heart of Tirana can similarly become a temple to sport and community.”
Architecture firm MVRDR has won a competition to create a massive sporting complex in Albania’s capital.
This new mixed-use complex in Tirana is an innovative use of space that combines a sporting arena, hotel, residences, and retail spaces.
Named The Grand Ballroom, the building can pack a lot into a smaller footprint thanks to its spherical size.
