status:
International Concept Design Competition, selected project
year:
2024
place:
Farka Village, Tirana Municipality, Albania
client:
Albania National Territorial Planning Agency
with:
Kuehn Malvezzi, List, Varka Architecture, Adrian Paci, Anghela Alò, Bollinger+Grohmann, Kajo Rada, Transsolar
area:
56.651 m²
description:
The spatial layout of EXPO ALBANIA starts from the landscaped environment rather than from the building itself, expressing from the outset a heightened sensitivity to environmental concerns and the need to minimize the built footprint on site. An Olive Grove provides an extension of the surrounding landscape into the site as well as a permanent natural presence surrounding the exhibition ground. The Olive Grove marks the relation of EXPO with its context, offering the visitors an immersive experience and climatic benefits while emphasizing olive oil cultivation as an expression of Albanian culture.
The tree-planted area at EXPO ALBANIA realizes an experimental ecological Olive Grove, a green area that, in addition to traditional park functions, combines exhibition spaces and productive fields connected to the surrounding agricultural fabric. Our design conceives the Olive Grove not just as a single-species cultivation space but as a complex ecological system capable of generating a richness of biodiversity. The botanical structure of this planted area, in addition to olive trees, is defined by the presence of wild meadows that extend below the tree canopy, as well as understored vegetation in continuity with the wild olive woods and the hygrophilous vegetation of the adjacent canals that we implement with the introduction of rain gardens and water gardens. This carpet of herbaceous cover and understory vegetation will bring pollinators, increase biodiversity, and create a colorful landscape of blossoming flowers that will attract visitors to explore the grove and learn about plants and ecology.
images, from top to bottom:
1. View of EXPO ALBANIA from the existing olive grove
2. Plan, 1:2000
3. Plan, 1:500
4. Through the olive trees, Abbas Kiarostami, 1994
5. The hunt in the forest, Paolo Uccello. The Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
6. View in the olive grove. Image by Dima Visualization
7. Hide and seek in the existing olive grove
8. Under the trees’ shadow
9. Hide and seek in the existing olive grove
10. The beacon circular clearing
11. Clearings for outdoor art installations
12. Under the trees’ shadow
13. A ride to the expo
14. A new bicycle bridge
15. The water garden
16. An outdoor room
17. Francis Alys, Sunpath, Mexico City 20.05.99, 4.45pm, 1999
18. Field of Play, 7.00 am
19. Field of Play, 12.00 pm
20. Field of Play, 05.00 pm
21. Field of Play, 08.00 pm
22. Field of Play, 11.00 pm
23. View of the Bazaar buildings
24. Physical model of the project site, 1.500
25. Physical model of the project site, 1.500
realistic visualization:
Out of Ram, Dima
