Rozafa Tower
- Shkodër

2024
Competition

A tree-like building.
Inspired by nature, the Rozafa Tower rises in Shkodër, where city and countryside come together. This iconic design balances innovation and sensitivity, preserving the charm of Shkodër while introducing a symbol of its future.
The concept integrates the 30-meter heritage hotel with a 120-meter modern tower to the rear, connecting the two with a unifying platform that frames a suspended garden. This “line” separates the ground floor from the two structures, breathing life into both buildings, each of which possesses its own distinctive character while sharing a single, welcoming foyer. Shaped to respect plot boundaries and to minimize any overshadowing of the existing hotel, the tower’s terraces create a dynamic movement along the façade, and the two MEP floors introduce greenery, adding rhythm and enhancing the vertical flow.
Inside, the ground floor houses foyers for both hotels, an apart-hotel entrance and amenities such as a restaurant, a bar, a 25-meter pool and a spa flanked by secret gardens, while the first floor offers fine dining and a 2,600-square-meter garden, open to all. Co-working spaces and meeting rooms surrounded by 700 square-meters of green terraces occupy the second floor.
The apartments from levels 3 to 26 offer a choice of layouts, while the upper hotel floors provide both flexible suites and standard rooms. Atop the tower, a rooftop restaurant, bar and plunge pool offer guests sweeping, 360-degree views.
In this seismically active region, the structure is reinforced with a TMD-based damping mechanism, ensuring resilience by reducing lateral forces by up to 50%. This synergy of design, technology and sustainability creates a tower rooted in the earth and reaching for the sky, honoring Shkodër’s beauty and spirit.