House-shaped blocks

Designed to resemble the shape of “the archetypal village house with a gabled roof”, a new high-rise in Tirana, Albania, is redefining what a village looks like.

Conceived by Network of Architecture (NOA) and Atelier 4 as a vertical village, the 71-metre-tall Puzzle Tirana tower will have house-shaped blocks that vary in colour, form, orientation and layout protruding from its facade. Inside, the building will house 32,700 square metres of commercial space, apartments, penthouses and a hotel.

Commenting on the project, studio founder Lukas Rungger said: “The concept of the project comes from the fusion and densification of two worlds, urban and rural, into a single architectural intervention. The proposal celebrates the concept of abstracted puzzle pieces, always different but still similar, through its varying orientations, the fragments collectively shape the facade, interweave with each other and create a common built collage.”

Continuing, he explains: “The puzzles work as value-added spaces for each housing unit. Depending on the individual needs of the inhabitants, it can transform into a loggia, an open-air cinema, a relaxation zone, a playground, a fireplace and many more versatile functions.”

In addition, hanging gardens will be created on the projecting sections, and a “large house-shaped void designed to appear as though it were the missing piece of the puzzle is set to carve through the centre of the tower and host a series of cantilevered balconies”.

The first two floors of the building will consist of retail space, followed by the hotel and apartment units on the second to the sixth floor and apartments ranging from 70 to 130 square metres from the seventh to the sixteenth floor. The top three floors are reserved for five penthouses, each occupying its own distinct volume and surrounded by a lush rooftop garden.