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.