Author: Studio Muoto

Civic center – Tirana, Albania
 
The building houses the administrative services and the archives of the Albanian State Land Registry. The idea is to take as a starting point an office building recently built on the site, like a found object, and to increase it by building additional wings on either side. The result is a thick and composite building that finds unity with the addition of a large vaulted roof. The archives and back-office functions are located in the center and the offices on the periphery. The roof is treated as a metropolitan stage, suspended in the sky, which offers breathtaking views of the urban landscape of Tirana. It hosts multiple activities, a garden, an auditorium, a daycare center, accessible to employees and the public. This monumental space, protected from the sun and rain, is accessible by a large staircase that dramatically crosses the center of the new building. This staircase functions as a natural ventilation shaft that contributes to creating, with the vaulted roof, an interior microclimate that responds to the Mediterranean climate of Tirana.