Arup adapts residential concentration to Albania’s mountainous landscape
Located on the Dajti Plateau above Tirana, AlbaniaGive Village by Arup suggests a residential ensemble gently integrated into a rugged, wooded landscape. Set amongst dense forest, existing hospitality programs and surrounding infrastructure, the project responds to the site’s dramatic topography through a fragmented spatial strategy that follows the natural contours of the slope rather than imposing a rigid order.
The development consists of two primary buildings, housing apartments and a apartment hotel program. Rather than being perceived as large monolithic blocks, the volumes are carefully articulated through design facades and roofsbreaking down their total mass into smaller perceptible units. This strategy gives the buildings a more human scale despite their overall dimension, allowing them to sit more comfortably within the forest landscape while maintaining architectural clarity.
all images courtesy of Arup Architecture Madrid
Arup’s Shape Dajti Village pitched roofs and timber facades
At the heart of the project, a central platform connects the two main buildings while also acting as the main public space. This elevated plane organizes circulation and gathering, creating a continuous public ground between programs. Below this, the design accommodates a partially embedded parking level, allowing the infrastructure to be absorbed into the topography and reducing its visual impact on the landscape above.
A lightweight wooden envelope is placed over a sturdier concrete structure, creating a dual system that combines permanence with warmth and touch. Deep balconies and terraces extend each residence outward, blurring the lines between indoors and outdoors and framing continuous visual connections with the surrounding forest and distant mountain views.
With pitched roofs and a restrained palette of materials, the work of Arup Architecture Group develops a geometric language inspired by the logic of traditional mountain villages rather than alpine architecture per se. The composition reflects the way municipal settlements are formed through clustered, incremental volumes adapted to terrain, scale and proximity, resulting in a contemporary interpretation of mountainous typologies integrated into the forested landscape. Dajti Village is set to be publicly unveiled at the Bread & Heart Festival on June 3, 2026.
the pitched roofs reinterpret the geometry of the local mountain villages
Wood-clad volumes gently traverse the forested Dajti Plateau
deep terraces frame panoramic views of the surrounding forest
fragmented rooflines follow the contours of the Albanian hillside
Forest views extend through deep balcony openings
the steps reduce the perceived scale of the development
timber facades introduce texture and rhythm throughout the sloping site
the terraces blur the boundaries between the interior and the mountain landscape
the concrete base is partially absorbed into the hillside soil
