Eduardo Souto de Moura and OODA design gridded Tirana skyscraper as "urban gateway"
Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura has teamed up with Porto-based studio OODA to design a mixed-use concrete skyscraper in Tirana, Albania.
Set to be built in the west of Tirana beside OODA's recently completed Bond Tower, the Oricon Tower will rise 180 metres and have a gridded concrete and glass form.
Contained within its 60,000-square-metre volume will be apartments, a hotel and offices, alongside retail space and a rooftop restaurant.
The collaboration between Pritzker Prize-winner Souto de Moura and OODA is the latest in a slew of new developments for the city and, according to the studio, has been designed as a "transitional element" between the pre-existing city and its newer developments.
"Set in an area of transformation along the axis connecting the airport to the city centre, the tower occupies a strategic position within the urban context," OODA said.
"It functions as an urban gateway."
Renders of the Oricon Tower reveal a rectilinear form with protruding floor plates that extend beyond the tower's glass facade to define its exterior.
Regular recesses in the structure's form help to break up the volume.
"The project embraces proportion, structural clarity and materiality, adopting constructive expression as its guiding principle," the studio explained.
A public plaza is set to flank the tower's base, which will open up to a double-height entrance lobby. Inside, the lobby is set to feature marble-clad surfaces and seating space for visitors.
Above this, the tower's lower floors will be dedicated to retail space and offices, which, according to renders of the space, will be complete with a warmer, wooden palette.
Meanwhile, apartments will occupy the middle floors and be crowned by a hotel and rooftop restaurant. Lobbies for each of the tower's programmes will be linked by a central circulation core.
"Internal circulation has been designed to optimise movement and efficiency within the building," the studio said.
Construction is set to begin on site in January 2026.
Other high-rise developments recently unveiled for the city include the undulating Lake Views development by JA Joubert Architecture and the yet-to-be-completed Barcelona Tower skyscraper by Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura.
The renders are courtesy of Plomp unless otherwise stated.
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