West Residences, a project by Stefano Boeri Architetti in Tirana, wins the BIG SEE Architecture Award 2026 in the Residential – housing category.
Located in the central Blloku district of Tirana, in the immediate vicinity of the Albanian Government’s Presidential Palace, the West Residences project occupies a narrow, elongated plot and faces an important road axis with its shorter façade, while opening onto a wide public space within the urban fabric with its longer façade — directly relating the building to other public structures in the area.
The volume can be read as a composition of stacked cubes, a series of slightly offset autonomous residential modules, each providing every dwelling unit with at least one loggia or balcony. This architectural solution creates different visual axes for each of the thirty apartments that make up the building, offering residents a perception of the city of Tirana in its entirety. In addition, each dwelling unit features a double aspect to maximise not only the views but also, and above all, natural light and ventilation. The structure is further designed so that the apartments are not stacked directly above one another; instead, a second system of offsets positions the units on each floor straddling two apartments on the floor below, creating an intentional misalignment that animates the façade composition.
For more information: https://bigsee.eu/blloku-west-residences-by-stefano-boeri-architetti/