In the history of modern architecture, Albania stands out. In a way, it is a Cinderella story: a communist dictatorship that, after its fall in 1992, almost slid into civil war.
As the situation stabilized, people began to take notice of Albania – Croatia’s equally beautiful and still “undiscovered” neighbor – and tourist and investment flows began to increase, while GDP growth remained around 4% in both 2024 and 2025. New developments have transformed the capital, Tirana, as well as coastal destinations, including Durrës, Vlora and Saranda.
A significant part of this transformation has been the engagement of an unusual roster of high-end architectural firms, who are reshaping the place through a wave of modern and often highly distinctive buildings.
When Wallpaper* spoke to Diogo Brito, co-founder of OODA, the architectural studio behind Tirana’s Bond Tower – a pair of broken-shaped towers – and Hora Vertikale, composed of cubic volumes shifted to different levels, for last year’s article on the country’s architectural transformation, he noted that “it’s becoming increasingly rare to find an influential architect who isn’t involved in Albania.”
This extraordinary influx is documented in Anneke Abhelakh’s new book, The Albanian Files: Freedom and Architecture , published by Lars Müller Publishers. The 800-page volume documents the presence of international architecture studios in Albania since the early 2000s. The book features 60 studios, each with its own “dossier,” combining project data and visual materials with first-person accounts from architects about their experience working in Albania.
*(Photo: Plomp)*
Brenda “The Albanian Files”
Stefano Boeri Architetti’s portfolio describes the studio’s role in shaping the capital through the Tirana 2030 masterplan, a green development strategy for the entire city, as well as other projects such as Tirana Vertical Forest, a residential tower covered in vegetation, and Blloku Cube, a mixed-use, cube-shaped building.
MVRDV talks about Downtown One, a tower whose “pixelated” facade is designed to resemble a map of Albania, as well as the transformation of the Tirana Pyramid, a former communist-era monument, into a cultural and technological center.
Bofill Taller de Arquitectura presents, among other projects, Red Sol Resort, a complex with a strong red color on the Albanian Riviera.
Luca Dini Design & Architecture presents its portfolio of luxury residential and hospitality projects, including Colosseum 339, inspired by medieval architecture, while NOA’s portfolio includes Puzzle Tirana, a tower that reinterprets traditional Albanian houses with sloping roofs.
The book also covers a series of cultural and public projects. Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) discusses the design of the new National Theatre of Albania in Tirana, while Kengo Kuma & Associates presents the Butrint National Park Visitor Centre, the gateway to Albania’s UNESCO-protected archaeological site.
Other parts of the book feature projects by Herzog & de Meuron, Lina Ghotmeh Architecture, and OMA, among many other studios.
*(Photo: Ossip van Duivenbode)*
Behind the facade
However, Albania’s new and shining face only tells half the story.
The latest protests, broadcast internationally, initially focused on proposed luxury tourism projects along the southern coast, including a development on the island of Sazan, linked to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The protests have since expanded into a broader dissatisfaction with the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama and what critics see as favoritism for wealthy investors to gain access to valuable land in Albania.
Against this backdrop, The Albanian Files has unexpectedly become a flashpoint.
Conceived as a chronicle of Albania’s architectural transformation, the book has instead prompted questions about how this transformation was organized. The Tirana Times has presented it as a revealing political document, arguing that the book’s contributors inadvertently expose a development model based less on competitive procedures and public consultation and more on direct access to the prime minister.
Opponents argue that the involvement of internationally renowned architects lends reputational legitimacy to the building boom, overshadowing deeper questions about who ultimately benefits from it.
It should be noted that the protests also have a partisan dimension. Opposition leader Sali Berisha has exploited public anger by accusing the Rama government of corruption, but Berisha – Albania’s prime minister during the turbulent 1990s – has a controversial political history himself.
The newer movement, especially among young people and environmentalists, is better understood as a generally anti-establishment movement that challenges Albania’s consolidated two-party system and not simply the Rama government.
In The Albanian Files , several architects describe being personally contacted by the prime minister.
Chris Precht, of Studio Precht, says the first contact came through an Instagram message, asking if he “would be interested in working in Albania.”
Alejandro Aravena, of Elemental, recalls that Rama contacted him by phone “asking if he could come to Tirana to discuss the possibility of a project,” while Sam Chermayeff Office tells of a late-night phone call, where he was told that “’Edi’ would call him,” after which “his studio was invited to realize two projects in Tirana.”
In another section, an open letter to Rama from OMA’s Reinier de Graaf satirically states that “…our profession would benefit immensely if the country never held elections again and if you… would simply continue as president forever – perhaps even as King.”
The prime minister, who wrote the book’s foreword, defended the passage as an obvious irony. But in a country marked by memories of dictatorship, the joke has proven controversial.
Writer and activist Fatos Lubonja has helped organize a group of around 600 people who are reviewing the book, while lawyers are reportedly preparing a complaint to the Special Structure against Corruption and Organized Crime, SPAK.
Separately, citizens protesting against a planned investment in the Zvërnec area have also submitted the book to SPAK.
*(Photo: © 51N4E)*
Albania’s transformation is both extraordinary and complex. The arrival of some of the world’s most renowned studios has given the country a new identity, while the scale and speed of development have raised broader questions about planning and power.
Abhelakh’s chronicle is a valuable document of a country undergoing a profound physical transformation, but it also shows that Albania’s architectural history is not just about impressive buildings: it is also about the question of who decides what Albania’s future will look like . / By Anna Solomon, Wallpaper