Today in Shkodër, the international architecture competition opened, where five renowned European studios are presenting their project ideas for the New Rozafa to the jury. This project aims to renew and expand the city’s main hotel, providing new capacity for Shkodër, which is increasingly becoming a prominent destination in Albania’s tourism sector.

The presentation ceremony for the participating studios was attended by Prime Minister Rama, who stated that what is being constructed “is not merely a private structure, but an edifice that we aim to create as a 21st-century icon for Shkodër. The city is rich in monuments and historical traces, with each generation leaving its mark, and this building will be a new addition to Shkodër’s heritage for future generations.”

The participating studios are: Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects from Barcelona; Kuehn Malvezzi Architects from Berlin; Selgascano Architects from Madrid; Baukuh Architects from Milan; and Piero Lissoni & Partners from Milan.

Prime Minister Edi Rama Speech:

Good morning everyone!

First of all, welcome to this competition, to the competitors and jury members. It is a great privilege to have you all here! It is also an extraordinary pleasure to see such a significant event taking place in Shkodër.

This is a wonderful moment to be here today after a long and very serious preparation initiated by the municipality of Shkodër, along with its mayor, Benet, and Agustin, together with the new generation of the family who have taken the lead.

Therefore, the preparation for this international competition is indeed significant, as the mayor mentioned, being the first of its kind in Shkodër. It is an expression of a new ambition for Shkodër, which has begun to steadily and decisively revive step by step. This competition is particularly valuable because it involves five well-known international studios with an unquestionable reputation and because it will present five opportunities, one of which will be selected by the jury to build a structure that is not just a private building but one that aims to create a 21st-century icon for Shkodër. The city is rich in monuments and historical traces, with each generation leaving its mark, and this building will be a new addition to Shkodër’s heritage for future generations.

On the other hand, it is part of a much broader vision that combines public investments, which for Shkodër and the entire area extending to the wonderful Theth and to the border with Montenegro, are increasing day by day. Certainly, considering the necessity of a very fast and secure connection of Shkodër both with the north and with Tirana and the south, the main challenge remains the construction of the Blue Corridor up to Murriqan, which already has a completed segment accessible to everyone from the Thumanë-Kashar axis. However, it will continue with other segments that will practically connect Balldren with Milot, Milot with Murriqan, and, of course, Balldren with Thumanë.

For all these, we have clear steps, and meanwhile, we have done a significant part of the work for the projects. In a few days, new contracts for the segments from Thumanë to Kashar will be signed, we already have Kashar, then from Kashar to Rrogozhinë, from Rrogozhinë to Fier, and thus the travel time between Shkodër and Tirana will be around 40-45 minutes within this decade. Meanwhile, the travel time between Shkodër and the south will be the same as today’s travel time to Tirana, allowing to travel to Vlorë in 2 hours.

In closing, I would like to especially greet a now proven friend of Shkodër, an architect who is part of the fantastic community of international architects we have created in Albania, Jesus Hernandez, who is the author of the public work in Shirokë and is also giving the final touch to the Memory Museum project, which will be an added value as we promised with Benet for the city of Shkodër.

Thank you very much once again to all the competitors, thanks to the invited international jury friends. Thank you to everyone here for following this event, which is a historic event for Shkodër in the sense that I mentioned from the beginning, because this event marks the beginning of a new mark for future generations, and I want to especially greet and thank Agustin, his family, the new generation of the family, for being very open to organizing and financing the competition so that what they are doing is a private investment, but thanks to this competition it is also a joint effort with the municipality. I hope and believe we will have more events like this, challenging even Pjerin Ndreu in Lezha, who has long been trying to make Lezha a more important center than Shkodër. It is much more challenging, but I am confident that by looking at Shkodër, he will learn and ameliorate his ambitious plans.

Thank you!