College of Europe - Tirana Campus | Oppenheim Architecture

Established on the initiative of the Hague Congress, the college of Europe both represents and upholds the European ideals of unity, cooperation, and integration. Initially located in Bruges, Belgium, the college expanded to Natolin, Poland in 1992 as a way to support Poland and the region after the fall of communism in their wish to be a part of the European “dream of a unified, peaceful and prosperous continent”. In a similarly important and symbolic move, the college is once more expanding and is set to open a third campus, this time in Tirana, Albania. 

Whereas, the previous two campuses were housed inside historical structures, the new Tirana campus, locate in the historically significant student city, is the first to be designed specifically for the college. This presented Oppenheim Architecture with a unique opportunity to design a symbol that simultaneously showcases the College of Europe’s ideals while remaining true to the studio’s philosophy of designing with the “Spirit of Place” and celebrating Albania rich history and culture. 

Through careful research into the history and culture of Tirana and its emblematic student city, OA recognized that beyond Tirana’s beautiful materials, colors, and textures, it is the people, and more generally social life that stands at the center of the city’ sspatial organization. Indeed, throughout Tirana, the ground and first floors are almost exclusively occupied by shops, restaurants and social spaces, and act as an extension of the city within the bounds of the buildings. Likewise, during the 1991 student protests demanding economic change and resignation of the communist government, the campus of Tirana university and more specifically the Godina LIRIA building, located adjacent to the site for the new College of Europe, became the heart of the movement where thousands of students took to the roofs and loggias and demanded change. Drawing inspiration from this rich history, OA determined that unlike the other two campuses, the Tirana campus would not be a place where only students and EU delegates interact. Instead, it would become a hub for social, cultural, and diplomatic exchange between students, EU delegates and the people. 

Democracy being a fundamental value of the EU, OA sought to organize the new campus following a democratic spatial logic. The initial drive was to identify and determine the programs that would constitute the DNA of the Tirana Campus of the College of Europe and to dedicate a building for each of the program clusters. Standing at the entrance of the campus, a gateway building for public and social programs such as an arrival and information center, a museum, a library, and an event space. To the east, and bordering a new sports park, a university building for all the necessary spaces of an academic institution such as a cafeteria, classrooms, administration offices, and lecture halls. South of the university building, also on the edge of the park, a diplomatic building containing a café, offices, meeting rooms and furnished apartments in order to accommodate for the needs of visiting EU diplomat. These seemingly independent buildings are in fact strategically placed at the edges of the site and oriented towards a central circular “agora” reimagined as a porous, concrete dome – reminiscent of the bunkers scattered around Albania – housing an auditorium for university lectures, diplomatic addresses, and artistic performances. Further accentuating the relationship among the buildings as well as between the buildings and the city, the ground floor of the campus has been conceived as an inviting grand foyer starting inside the buildings and projecting outwards in the form of a covered area spanning the space between the buildings, creating a canopy on the ground floor, and a green roof terrace as an extension of the adjacent sports park on thefi rst floor. 

The focus on promoting social interaction, cooperation and integration is not only limited to the scale of the campus but extends into the spatial organization of individual buildings. Each floor is composed of a series of spaces leading the users from the most social to the more private zones. On the side of the buildings facing the agora, a generous core with a grand staircase where people can meet and connect throughout the building leading to rooftops, which serve as social spaces characterized by the program of the building. Further in, a lobby doubling as a collective workspace for the dedicated program of the floor, which then leads into the most private programs such as personal offices or classrooms. Inspired by their iconic use by the students during the protests, deep loggias wrap each floor, also serving as visual connectors between the buildings fostering a sense of unity. 

Similarly, the agora’s spatial organization accentuates the democratization of space and promotes the involvement of people in the communal experience of the space. To that effect, unlike traditional auditoriums where the public is on one side and the stage on the other, the “Agora” organizes the public in concentric seating around a circular stage in a manner evoking ancient Greek theaters. This arrangement allows for a multitude of seating scenarios, each determined by the use of the space. For example, a university lecture or diplomatic address would require 2/3 of the seats to be occupied and a unidirectional use of the stage, however, a contemporary dance performance could have the entirety of the seats taken for a 360 experience of the show. 

The choice of materials, colors, surface treatment and façade articulation stems from the merging of the outcome of our research into Tirana’s architectural 

Architect: Oppenheim Architecture 

Local Architect: Atelier 4 (https://atelier4.al/en/)

OA Principals in charge: Chad Oppenheim, Beat Huesler 

Project manager: Alexandre Mecattaf 

Project Contributers: Janet Vutcheva, Ece Emanetoglu 

Renders: MIR 

Drawings: Alexandre Mecattaf, Janet Vutcheva, Ece Emanetoglu