The sprawling, space-age “pyramid” in Tirana’s center had many uses before falling into ruin: Built as a museum for a dictator, it later hosted a NATO base, TV studio, nightclub and more.
After years of neglect, the crumbling structure is now set for another rebirth as an information technology hub in the heart of Albania’s fast-changing capital.
“I don’t think there is anyone who thinks it is beautiful, but it’s a sort of a landmark of the city and people want to preserve them in a city that has lost a lot” to development, said Joni Baboci, a city hall architect involved with the redesign.
Photo: AFP
The 11,400m2 behemoth has triangular wedges of graffiti-covered marble and dark window panes that meet at a peak, giving it the pyramid look.
For the project’s architects, its overhaul is about striking a balance between preserving and reclaiming a relic from a dark period of Albanian history.
The bizarre building was erected 30 years ago to glorify the life of then-dictator Enver Hoxha, who ruthlessly ruled Albania for four decades until his death in 1985.
After communism collapsed a few years later, the museum was shuttered and the pyramid became a venue for a merry-go-round of uses, reflecting the explosion of culture in a nation that had been hermetically sealed under Hoxha’s iron grip.
However, for the past 10 years the building has sat virtually abandoned, aside from the locals and tourists who can be seen scaling its walls for the 360° city view at the top.
When authorities announced plans to demolish the pyramid several years ago, protests broke out, revealing how the unusual monument had won its way into people’s hearts.
The demolition plan was scrapped and city hall came back last year with a project to turn the pyramid into a digital learning center.
“We thought there couldn’t be a better symbol than giving the building back to Albanian society in its best form, to the kids, for their future education,” said Martin Mata, of the Albanian-American Development Foundation, which is funding the more than US$10 million renovation.
It is a fitting purpose for a nation suffering from high youth unemployment and emigration rates.
Designs revealed last month by Dutch firm MVRDV open the structure on all sides of the ground floor, bring light into the atrium with more glass, surround it with trees and carve stairs onto its exterior to make the pyramid walls a safer climb.
“The pyramid will be open to everyone” and the building will be nearly “transparent,” chief architect Winy Maas said at a presentation in Tirana.
Inside will be a mix of commercial space and a learning center for young people, run by non-profit group Tumo, offering classes in computer programming, design and other digital skills.
For Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj the project is a “story of resurrection” — for the pyramid and Albania itself.
“Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the start of [Albania’s] transition, the question has been how do we make Albania great again?” he said.
The pyramid’s renovation is part of a dizzying amount of transformation that the nation’s capital has undergone.
The collapse of communism unleashed a massive wave of migration from rural areas to the capital, leading to unchecked construction, an explosion of vehicles and chaotic urban spaces.
As mayor of Tirana in the early 2000s, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama gave the city a major facelift by splashing its drab communist buildings with bright colors and bold patterns.
Veliaj says he is trying to further spruce up the city by cracking down on illegal construction, creating more parks and turning a massive Skanderbeg Square traffic roundabout into a pedestrian space.
The changes are raising Tirana’s profile on the tourist map.
Its vibrant cafe scene now comes in for praise, as well as the unique hodgepodge of architecture, including Italian fascist buildings, Soviet-style tower blocks, Ottoman-era mosques and, of course, the pyramid, but not all of city hall’s revamps are popular.
There have been regular protests in the last year over plans to knock down homes and shops for a ring road.
In the city center, a crowd has been demonstrating daily against a government-backed project to bulldoze Tirana’s national theater, built in 1930, and replace it with a modern one.
As for the pyramid, some would have preferred to see it become an archeology museum or national library, among other things, but for Rama, the transformation of a “symbol of dictatorship” to a “symbol of each individual’s power in a new time” is an apt road map.
“I am happy that we have managed to solve a problem that has vexed us for 30 years now,” he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number