The international competition started on January 28 this year and was held in two stages: first, potential participants declared their desire to work on the image of this complex, and then the expert council selected 5 teams, which received a detailed technical assignment. BIG's competitors are therefore Zaha Hadid, Andreas Perea Ortega, Architecture Studio from France and SeARCH from the Netherlands.
The project, developed by the team of Bjarke Ingels, provides for the creation of a landscaped pedestrian square around which three volumes are grouped - put together, they form a giant triangle in plan. The architects make the facades facing the square emphatically curved: they are curved in such a way that each of them has a large canopy that provides protection from the sun and precipitation. Such plastic also contains a hint of numerous arches and domes so characteristic of Islamic architecture. It is also important that the buildings are not supposed to be built close to each other: wide passages will connect the new square with the main streets of Tirana. The architects propose to revet the facades of all three volumes with light stone, and stylize numerous rectangular windows like mashrabiya lattices - carved screens, traditional for Islamic architecture.
The mosque, which has become the center of the composition of the new complex, will be able to accommodate up to 5 thousand people, and the project also provides for the possibility of increasing the area of its internal space almost twice during the period of religious holidays. The complex is also supposed to include a garden in which all the plants mentioned in the Quran will be planted.
The BIG project was recognized as the best in several indicators at once. First, the architects thought out in detail the economics of the project, providing for the possibility of its stage-by-stage implementation. Secondly, the jury highly appreciated the town-planning role of the new complex: the BIG concept envisages not only the construction of a new religious building, but the creation of an attractive public space, harmoniously inscribed in the existing fabric of the historical center of Tirana.
