BIG WINS COMPETITION FOR TIRANA FOUNTAIN TOWER IN ALBANIA

Awarded first place in the international competition for Tirana Fountain Tower, BIG’s proposal expands the landscape of Rinia Park beneath and around a new mixed-use development in the heart of Tirana. The expanded park becomes a new public landscape for the city, combining rainwater management, biodiversity, and recreation within a single continuous environment. A closed-loop system captures, stores, and reuses rainwater to support irrigation, mitigate flooding, and create a cooler microclimate throughout the park. Offices, residences, hotel spaces, and cultural amenities are lifted above the ground plane, freeing up space for an expanded public realm below. The project transforms a privately operated casino site into a new cultural and mixed-use destination, introducing gardens, plazas, water features, and gathering spaces that connect the park to the Lana River while preserving the historic fountain. Selected from a shortlist including Cobe, Barozzi Veiga, l’AUC, and JDSA, the design brings architecture, landscape, and water management together as a single civic experience.