This international design and build competition is a call to imagine spaces where architecture becomes both shelter and horizon. At its heart lies the creation of a new Children’s Campus, conceived not as an institution but as a home, where children without parental care can grow in dignity, safety, and belonging. It is an opportunity to shape a community of small houses and shared spaces that nurture intimacy and identity, while opening onto gardens, play, and learning. The campus must embody inclusivity, accessibility, and environmental sustainability, setting a new standard for public social care in Albania.
In parallel, the competition looks to Tirana’s urban core, where a new Mixed-Use Development will rise as a contemporary landmark. Located in a highly visible site near the Air Albania Stadium, this project must bring together hospitality, working & business, services, retail & leisure, housing, and parking into a vibrant whole. It should contribute to the city’s skyline while enriching its ground plane with spaces that are open, generous, and connected.
This competition therefore addresses two core themes in two distinct sites: the New Children’s Campus and the New Mixed-Use Building. Together, these two projects represent a unique opportunity to create architectural works of high social value and urban significance, reinforcing Tirana’s role as a city of care, innovation, and growth. Competitors are asked to provide proposals for both sites within a single submission, ensuring that each is treated with equal architectural rigor and contextual sensitivity. Together, the Children’s Campus and the Mixed-Use Building represent Albania’s ambition to align social responsibility with urban innovation—proving that architecture can serve the most vulnerable and inspire the city at once.
The overarching project for the Inspectorates Complex and the New Zyber Hallulli Children’s Campus forms part of the broader initiative of the Albanian Investment Corporation (AIC) to redevelop and manage state properties. This initiative seeks to modernize public infrastructure while also addressing pressing social needs. On one hand, it envisions the construction of a multifunctional building to bring together Albania’s main inspectorates—labor, health, food safety, environment, technical and market supervision—within a single contemporary facility. This centralization aims to improve efficiency, transparency, and citizen access, while reducing bureaucracy and corruption risks. On the other hand, the project directly responds to a long-standing social necessity: replacing the outdated and inadequate Zyber Hallulli home with a new campus that can offer children without parental care a dignified, safe, and modern living environment.
This vision is being developed under a public–private partnership model, whereby a private partner will finance construction in exchange for development rights on another state property. This ensures sustainability without burdening the state budget. The model is anchored inprecedents from several European countries—Italy, Slovenia, France, Germany, and Serbia—that have successfully combined institutional reform with social investment through integrated, multifunctional complexes.
