Close-knit neighborhood-community Albania digs

Article posted by Coliseum, April 16^th, 2025

Image: OMA

The international design practice Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has won the competition to revitalize the historic Selman Stërmasi Stadium and its surrounding area in central Tirana, Albania.

The focus of the venue rejig is to forge closer ties between the neighborhood and the community.

A ‘LinkedIn Post By OMA’ stated, “The design expands the existing football park and makes it a catalyst for closer connections between the different neighborhoods in the City. It reconfigures the stadium, built in 1956, as part of a mixed-use development with new buildings and generous open spaces referring to Albania’s mountainous landscape in its layered composition.”

Rotterdam (South Holland)-based the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism.

The Selman Stërmasi Stadium is a multipurpose stadium in Tirana, Albania. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of KF Tirana. The stadium holds 9,500 people.

Image: OMA

The KF Tirana is an Albanian professional football club based in Albania’s capital City Tirana which competes in the Kategoria Superiore, the top tier of Albanian football.

The ‘LinkedIn Post By OMA’ further stated that the OMA Managing Partner, Architect David Gianotten, stated, “Football is a cornerstone of urban culture and national identity across Europe and around the world and we feel it especially intensely here in Tirana. Our design is meant to accelerate the exciting changes taking place in the City while fostering closer bonds within and between the neighborhoods and the communities here.”

“The competition design was led by OMA’s David Gianotten and Kees van Casteren in collaboration with LOLA Landscape Architects, Royal Haskoning DHV and Studio Petrit Halilaj.”

Rotterdam (South Holland)-based the LOLA Landscape Architects is an office for progressive landscape architecture. LOLA (LOst LAndscapes) studies and designs landscapes that are forgotten, have degraded, are derelict, or on the verge of change. LOLA has got an optimistic and conceptual approach to these landscapes and a fascination for new spatial phenomena. Whether in the City, the outskirts, or the countryside, they aim to design sublime places that are beautiful, surprising and thriving.

Image: OMA

Amersfoort (Netherlands)-based the Royal HaskoningDHV is an independent consulting engineering company that is dedicated to creating a positive impact on the people and the planet.

Petrit Halilaj is a Kosovar visual artist living and working in Germany, Kosovo (country in Southeast Europe) and Italy. The name ‘Petrit’ literally means ‘Falcon’. His work is based on documents, stories and memories related to the history of Kosovo.

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