Tirana Social Prototyping

Washington State University - Graduate Level

Social Housing located in Tirana, Albania.

Panel System.  The building portrays its diverse heterotopia on the exterior through a system of panels.  The mixed-use programs are made of a corrugated concrete material holding a system of ads and display windows which, especially on the ground floor, invites the public into this dynamic area.  The residential programs, floors 7-9, are a horizontal wood material to create a warm and more personal look to those areas, giving each unit its own panel style and its own identity. 

Modular Patterning.  Unit combinations of the odds.  After assigning each unit size a number (large - 1, medium - 2, small - 3), each floor combination of units could be assigned an entire number, created from the adding of the smaller parts (unit numbers), with the largest “floor number” of 12.  This model is an example of each level being assigned an odd number, the top floor being one, the bottom floor being 11.