eduardo souto de moura and OODA propose ‘oricon tower’ for tirana, albania

eduardo souto de moura and ooda take to albania

This proposed Oricon Tower introduces a new landmark for Tirana, Albania conceived through the collaboration of Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura and Porto-based OODA. Designed as a gateway to the Albanian capital, the fifty-story tower stands at the threshold between the city’s historic grid and its expanding western edge, where infrastructure, housing, and commerce meet.

From the outset, the project is guided by proportion, structure, and material. Souto de Moura’s disciplined approach to form meets OODA’s generational emphasis on adaptability and urban engagement, resulting in a work that feels both grounded and forward-looking. The tower aligns with the rhythm of the avenue while anchoring the skyline with a quiet authority that stems from its geometry rather than its scale.

visualization © Plomp

Urban Presence and Context

Positioned beside the Bond Tower in Tirana, Albania, Oricon Tower by OODA and Eduardo Souto de Moura establishes a dialogue with its surroundings through calibrated massing and a deliberate treatment of the base. The lower levels form a porous interface with the street, opening toward the city through glazed facades and deep recesses that temper light and define thresholds. This base gives way to a vertical composition where repetition, shadow, and reflection lend a measured continuity to the facade.

Its placement along the primary axis connecting the airport to the city center underscores its role as an urban threshold. Rather than presenting a single facade to the city, the building modulates its expression according to orientation, solid toward the approach from the airport, more permeable toward the inner city. This allows the structure to mediate between movement and arrival.

visualization © Plomp

Material and Structure

The architectural identity of Albania’s Oricon Tower by Eduardo Souto de Moura and OODA emerges from its material construction. Concrete, marble, and glass are handled with restraint, emphasizing continuity and texture over surface effect. These materials reference regional building traditions while supporting the tower’s structural clarity: vertical load-bearing elements frame broad spans that open the interiors to natural light and long views.

Detailing is purposeful throughout. Marble panels articulate the tower’s middle section, lending weight and permanence, while lighter glazing at the upper levels enhances transparency and luminosity for the hotel floors. The building’s structure — refined through close coordination between architects and engineers — balances expressive simplicity with technical rigor, ensuring stability without excess.

visualization © Plomp

Interior Organization and Experience

The functional gradient of the Oricon Tower mirrors the city’s layered activity. Shops and offices occupy the base, giving the ground plane a civic presence and extending the commercial energy of Dritan Hoxha Avenue. Mid-level apartments are arranged around the central core, with layouts that prioritize privacy and views toward the surrounding mountains.

The upper levels house a hotel and a restaurant that crowns the building. Here, the spatial character shifts from compressed circulation spaces to open volumes, where daylight and panorama define the atmosphere. Circulation remains direct and efficient, an aspect integral to Souto de Moura’s practice, and is supported by the core that links the separate lobbies for residential, commercial, and hospitality uses.

The design of the Oricon Tower rests on the principle that architecture and construction are inseparable. Each decision, from facade modulation to structural span, reflects the logic of how the building stands and breathes within its environment. The collaboration between Eduardo Souto de Moura and OODA synthesizes experience and experimentation into a coherent statement.

project info:

name: Oricon Tower

architect: OODA | @oodaarchitecture, Eduardo Souto de Moura

local architect: Artech Studio | @artech_al

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