In Tirana, a new landmark is poised to rise above the urban landscape. MVRDV has won the international competition for the Asllan Rusi sports palace, introducing an audacious mixed-use structure that merges a 6,000-seat arena with housing, a hotel, and a lively retail base. The winning proposal, titled The Grand Ballroom, forms a perfect sphere more than 100 metres in diameter, conceived as a monumental gesture toward sport, spectacle, and civic life.
The project continues Tirana’s recent embrace of bold architectural expression, yet it also redefines how a major public venue can intertwine with daily urban activity. The competition entry was developed together with Trema Tech shpk, Likado BV, Albanian Capital Group shpk, and BCN Investments BV.
A Spherical Urban Monument
The defining characteristic of the design is its globe-like form. Rather than offering a front and back, the sphere maintains an equal dialogue with every side of the surrounding neighbourhood. Its geometry allows a dense programme to sit on a compact site: the hotel and apartments are lifted above the arena, transforming the building into a vertical community.
The sphere narrows gently as it meets the ground, opening generous new public spaces for plazas and outdoor sports areas designed for local children. It also narrows at its uppermost edge, where wide residential terraces overlook the city.
Layered Worlds Within
The Grand Ballroom functions as a series of stacked worlds. At ground level, the sphere appears to press into the earth, creating a sunken lower-ground ring alive with cafés, retail, and amenities that serve both daily visitors and arena crowds. Bridges at street level lead directly into the main venue. Two training courts lie concealed beneath the grandstand.
Above the arena, two hotel floors receive a remarkable amenity: direct, elevated views into the sporting events below. The upper hotel level cantilevers over the stands, forming an oculus in the arena ceiling. This opening can be sealed with thick acoustic glass, maintaining visual drama without transmitting sound.
Higher still, the apartments occupy the double-shell of the sphere. Their placement generates a vast semi-outdoor domed void, a sheltered garden suspended within the architecture. Mature trees, seating, and communal walkways create a serene courtyard almost mirroring the bowl of the arena below. Rectangular cuts in the spherical shell open additional green pockets for residents, each conceived as a distinct micro-landscape with its own atmosphere.
Dwelling in the Curve
The residential component combines outward-facing units with dual-aspect apartments that take advantage of views toward both the city and the internal dome. As the sphere recedes toward its crown, expansive terraces unfold. The apartment façades sit slightly recessed within the structural shell, a move that naturally shades interiors and intensifies the perception of generous outdoor space.
The uppermost tier hosts mainly duplex penthouses with private roof terraces. One quadrant accommodates a soaring double-height skybar belonging to the hotel, offering sweeping panoramas of Tirana. A second oculus at the roof, openable for natural ventilation, completes the sphere.
A Temple to Sport and Community
For founding partner Winy Maas, the project’s form carries symbolic weight. He describes the design as a “beacon” that celebrates the joy of sport and the act of gathering. The spherical geometry alludes not only to the ball that defines many games, but also to visions of enlightenment architecture, from Boullée’s idealised monuments to Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic optimism. Maas envisions the building as a contemporary temple—one that ties together athletes, residents, hotel guests, neighbours, and city-wide visitors.
By merging diverse programmes within one coherent volume, The Grand Ballroom invites its occupants to share in the spectacle at the heart of the structure. Through its plazas and sports facilities, it extends this spirit outward to the community. As a new beacon on the route from the airport to the city centre, it is set to become a social and architectural focal point within Tirana’s growing constellation of ambitious projects.
Project Name: The Grand Ballroom
Location: Tirana, Albania
Year: 2025–
Client: Trema Tech shpk; Likado BV; Albanian Capital Group shpk; BCN Investments BV
Programme and Size: 90,200 m² including sports arena and facilities, housing, hotel, retail, and parking
Credits
Architect: MVRDV
Founding Partner in charge: Winy Maas
Partner: Bertrand Schippan
Design Team:
Stavros Gargaretas, Catherine Drieux, Piotr Janus, Americo Iannazzone, Angel Sanchez Navarro, Ana Melgarejo Lopez, Sylvain Totaro,
Lola Elisa Cauneac, Miguel del Campo Grijalbo, Stanisław Rochala
Strategy and Development:
Maria Stamati
Visualization:
Antonio Luca Coco, Angelo La Delfa, Luana La Martina, Jaroslaw Jeda,
Stefano Fiaschi, Ciprian Buzdugan
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