Major city to get Star Wars-style ‘floating’ skyscraper in surreal transformation

The Albanian capital’s skyline is set to be transformed by a ‘floating’ skyscraper.

Tirana could soon resemble Star Wars’ Cloud City as Danish architecture studio BIG has unveiled plans for a cloud-shaped building featuring apartments, offices, a hotel and cultural spaces above a public park.

Named Tirana Fountain Plaza, the proposed development will be raised on slender white columns and wrapped in layers of perforated white discs designed to give the structure the appearance of a floating cloud.

BIG, founded by architect Bjarke Ingels, won a competition to design the project, which aims to create additional public space while incorporating residential, commercial and cultural facilities.

The building is planned for the edge of Rinia Park, on Rruga Sami Frashëri and features a series of rounded, cloud-like volumes elevated above the ground on slim columns, leaving much of the space beneath open to the public.

Rows of perforated white discs will cover the glazed facades, creating a layered exterior intended to animate the building’s interior spaces.

Two curved structures wrapped in fluted glass will connect the elevated sections to the ground at either end of the development.

According to BIG, the design seeks to rethink the relationship between buildings and public space by using the area above the park rather than occupying more of the ground.

The elevated structure would also provide shade for people using the space below.

As you’d expect from a building meant to look like a cloud, water is a key feature. There are plans to preserve the existing Taiwan Pool and introduce a closed-loop system to capture, store and reuse rainwater.

BIG also said the landscape design would include planted gardens and water-management features intended to improve irrigation, reduce flood risk and cool the surrounding park.

A proposed inverted fountain will form a centrepiece of the scheme, with water falling from above rather than rising from the ground.

The development will include cultural facilities alongside its residential and commercial accommodation. Design images show interiors intended for uses including a library.

Tirana Fountain Plaza is planned near the Pyramid of Tirana, a former museum that was transformed into a cultural hub by Dutch architecture studio MVRDV.

BIG is also working on the National Theatre of Albania in Tirana, a bow-tie-shaped building that has attracted controversy because of the demolition of the original 1930s theatre to make way for the new development. In 2020, activists were arrested during protests against the demolition.

The studio has also unveiled plans for Faith Park, a proposed group of interfaith buildings arranged across a hillside near the Albanian capital.

Tirana Fountain Plaza represents another major architectural proposal in a city undergoing significant redevelopment, with architects from around the world taking on projects that look set to transform the city within a decade.