“Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” — C. P. Scott, 1921.
More towers in the former Blloku, as a 14-storey building awaits its permit
Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 8 November 2024
The new tower and surrounding construction
A 14-storey apartment building is expected to rise at the intersection of Vaso Pasha and Ismail Qemali streets in the former Blloku, continuing the urban transformation of this neighbourhood’s spaces.
Designed by Italian architect Stefano Boeri, the tower is intended to replace the three-storey building that currently houses a branch of Banka Kombëtare Tregtare. It is conceived as a residential and commercial building, with glass façades for businesses on its first two floors.
The tower includes 5 underground parking levels and an “attic-duplex” apartment on its top two floors. The project received development permission in October 2023 and is expected to move on to the construction-permit stage.
The client and developer is listed as Domus Group, owned by Adrian Hajro, an architect by profession.
On the other side of the same intersection, Domus Group is developing the “twin” of “Cube of Blloku”, a 10-storey building also designed by Boeri. The new building is called “Domus Cube”.
The first version of “Cube of Blloku” was developed between 2017 and 2023 by Invest Society, owned by entrepreneurs Dajlan Avdia, Glendi Abdi and Edison Hatellari, who called it the “European Blloku Multifunctional Building”. The initial design that received development permission envisaged a height of 8 storeys.
“Cube of Blloku” is now called “Rainbow Center”. This building replaced the well-known “Bar Rovena”, whose land was acquired in a disputed purchase in 2015 by businessman and former MP Tom Doshi and his fellow businessman and former MP Ndriçim Babasi.
At the time, singer Rovena Dilo alleged that the former lawmakers had obtained the property through “intervention” and “forged documents”.
Ismail Qemali Street in the former Blloku is known for its villas and historic buildings, including Villas No. 11 and No. 31, where dictator Enver Hoxha took up residence after the Second World War.
The so-called “Pallatet e Xhenios”, the military engineering buildings, have similar architectural and historical value: a group of at least four three- to four-storey buildings erected in the early 1940s.
The history of the area being built on
The area, now known as the former Blloku, was developed mainly between 1925 and 1943 under the influence of Italian architecture.
More than 30 villas and two- to three-storey residential blocks were built during this period, following an urban planning concept of plots with courtyards and gardens that gave the city a new neighbourhood in a modern style.
Families of Italian officers initially settled there, followed by employees, officials and entrepreneurs of the monarchy period.
During the dictatorship, the villas were confiscated and the area was designated as a block housing the political leadership.
Several 5-storey apartment buildings were added. After the 1990s, and particularly over the past decade, poorly planned development transformed the villas and green spaces into complexes of multistorey apartment buildings.