Designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti, Tirana’s first Vertical Forest stands in the city centre, near the Albanian capital’s Great Park (Parku i Madh i Tiranë). The new building, sharing one wall with an existing building, “opens like a flower” towards the city through the remaining three sides which host 3,200 plants and shrubs along with 145 trees. With their full-height windows the completely glazed façades allow the relationship between the vegetation and the views of the city to be fully maximised while allowing observers to appreciate the beauty of the plant mass that will have a considerable mitigating effect on air pollution. The absorption of CO² and fine particulate matter by the plants located on the three sides is combined with the oxygen they produce to create a considerably healthier microclimate. Being located in one of the Mediterranean capitals, the Tirana Vertical Forest will be home to typical specific plants and trees selected by the botanist and landscape architect Laura Gatti which relate to the specific ecosystem. These include shrubs with vivid colours and bright flowers as well as myrtle-scented plants and rosemary.

The intervention has been conceived as Albania’s first Vertical Forest in line with the new 2016 Masterplan, a fundamental element of which is the significant containment of land use in the metropolitan area and a substantial increase in green and wooded surfaces, both inside and around the city. The building is located in the city centre near Piazza Madre Teresa, one of the terminal points of the historic Boulevard Dëshmorët e Kombit, and appears in the urban context as a natural reference to the Mediterranean vegetation typical of the local geographic area.

The intervention consists of a vertical architectural element with 4 floors below ground level, a mostly commercial/retail ground floor and 21 storeys above which will house 105 apartments. The project epitomises the concept of progressive Urban Forestry for cities and metropolises worldwide, and is the standard bearer of a strategy and image for a concept that opens up towards the city and the surrounding spaces. The specific design of the balconies accentuates the desire of the intervention to extend its boundaries outwards: in fact, at the intersection between the floors, these rotate in opposite directions, accentuating the movement of the façade and allowing the planting of further tall trees. Overturning the convention according to which the main elevation of each building is the longest and the complete opening of the short side towards the rest of the built environment allows the building to complete the new city skyline. The biological habitats of the Tirana Vertical Forest will guarantee an increase in local urban biodiversity and the creation of microclimates with positive benefits for environmental well-being inside the homes.