sporting arena, hotel, and housing in one structure
MVRDV’s Grand Ballroom proposes a spherical arena of colossal scale for Tirana, Albania. Designed to replace the Asllan Rusi sports palace, the project brings together a 6,000-seat venue, hotel, apartments, and retail in a single continuous form. The sphere, over 100 meters (330 feet) in diameter, rises from a compact urban site between the city center and the airport road, appearing at once grounded and weightless.
The building’s circular volume folds gently into the landscape. Around its perimeter, open plazas and outdoor courts extend the public life of the arena. At ground level, shallow steps and shaded terraces guide visitors toward a sunken ring of cafés and shops, where the building meets the earth. The approach is choreographed through shifts in scale and level that reveal the building’s interior structure piece by piece.
visualizations © Antonio Luca Coco, Angelo La Delfa, Luana La Martina, Jaroslaw Jeda, Stefano Fiaschi, Ciprian Buzdugan
the grand ballroom as a spherical stack
The architects at MVRDV organize the Grand Ballroom’s programming as a stack of horizontal strata that build upward from public to private. The arena occupies the central tier — a luminous bowl enclosed by sweeping curves of seating and light-filtering structural ribs. Above, two floors of hotel rooms are suspended between the stands and the roof, their windows offering direct views into the court below. A glazed oculus at the arena’s center maintains a visual link between guests and athletes, which turn the ceiling into a shared point of focus.
Higher still, apartments are embedded within the double-shell structure of the sphere. Their circulation threads through a vast semi-outdoor dome that serves as a communal garden for residents. Mature trees, walkways, and shaded seating areas create a second landscape within the building as an inversion of the arena below. The cutouts that puncture the shell allow air and light to move freely through the interior.
MVRDV unveils a spherical mixed use arena in Tirana, Albania
inside MVRDV’s new monument for tirana
The material palette is expected to emphasize the building’s sculptural continuity — metallic panels and glass reflecting the changing Albanian light, while the internal gardens introduce warmth and softness. Seen from a distance, the Grand Ballroom reads as a luminous hemisphere rising above its context; up close, its surface reveals apertures, balconies, and recesses that respond to the rhythms of everyday use.
For founding partner Winy Maas, the project’s spherical form draws on references ranging from Boullée’s Cenotaph for Newton to Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes — monumental and iconic structures that embody collective aspiration through geometry. In Tirana, this lineage becomes a living arena for sport and community. As Mass explains, it will become a beacon and ‘a place to play, meet, and celebrate,’ Maas explains.
the 100 meter-wide sphere rises between the airport road and city center
the Grand Ballroom combines sport, housing, and hospitality in one structure
hotel rooms overlook the court through a central oculus
apartments are set within a double shell forming a shared garden dome
the arena sits at the heart of the structure with retail and cafés at ground level
cutouts in the sphere bring light and ventilation to the residential interior
project info:
name: Grand Ballroom
location: Tirana, Albania
client: Trema Tech shpk., Likado BV, Albanian Capital Group shpk, BCN Investments BV
status: competition winner
visualizations: © Antonio Luca Coco, Angelo La Delfa, Luana La Martina, Jaroslaw Jeda, Stefano Fiaschi, Ciprian Buzdugan
founding partner in charge: Winy Maas
partner: Bertrand Schippan
design team: Stavros Gargaretas, Catherine Drieux, Piotr Janus, Americo Iannazzone,
Angel Sanchez Navarro, Ana Melgarejo Lopez, Sylvain Totaro, Lola Elisa Cauneac, Miguel
del Campo Grijalbo, Stanisław Rochala
strategy and development: Maria Stamati
co-architect: UDV
artist: Hellidon Xhixha
structural engineer, cost estimator: DERBI-E
consultant: Ramboll
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