A two-stage competition has been launched for new visitor center in World Heritage Site recognized as Albania’s chief cultural attraction for its inspirational ancient monuments and spectacular natural setting.

Competition welcomes emerging and seasoned teams. The project encompasses world-class visitor center (with supporting entrance infrastructure and additional features such as wayfinding) that will welcome and orientate visitors to both the World Heritage Site and the wider National Park.

The jury features Elva Margariti, Albania’s Minister of Culture, alongside other distinguished global thought-leaders from architecture, heritage and the client organisations.

The competition is not seeking design at first stage − architect-led multidisciplinary teams asked to submit details of team composition, experience, pre-qualification questionnaire, and approach. Four finalist teams to receive USD $10,000 honorarium for concept designs at stage two. 

Deadline for first stage responses is Monday 24 October 2022. Participants are invited to upload their submission using the form on the website. Please note this form will close at 14:00 GMT+1 Monday 24 October 2022.

The Ministry of Culture of Albania, the Butrint Management Foundation (BMF)  and design competition organizers Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC), have launched the global search for a dedicated and gifted architectural team to design a new visitor center for Butrint National Park, an exceptional UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) on Albania’s Ionian coastline.

Located in the south of the country, approximately 20 kilometers from the modern city of Sarandë and overlooking the Straits of Corfu, Butrint is the most significant archaeological site in Albania, and its chief cultural attraction.

Butrint has an exceptional sense of place, cultural resonance and visual appeal, which comes from its rare combination of monuments within an unspoilt and spectacular natural setting. The wider National Park is endowed with hills, lakes, wetlands, salt marshes, plains, reed beds and coastal islands.

Recognized for millennia as an inspirational place, Butrint was celebrated in Virgil’s Aeneid and in Cicero’s Letters to Atticus. The site’s highlights include an ancient Epirot Theater, Roman Forum and an early Byzantine Baptistery with a well-preserved mosaic pavement, along with other monuments dating from the Hellenic, Roman, Byzantine, Angevin, Venetian and Ottoman periods. The area is triply inscribed as a WHS, a National Park, and a Ramsar site - wetlands of international importance designated under the Ramsar Convention.

Crucially, the new visitor center, expected to be carbon neutral, is intended to help the site better manage rising visitor numbers, projected to reach an annual 400,000 by 2030. 

The new center, of up to 1,000 sqm, must receive, welcome and orient visitors, interpret the site, convey the Outstanding Universal Values of the WHS, and be a gateway to the wider National Park and a regional hub for other nearby natural and cultural visitor attractions. 

The center will be located approximately 1.5 kilometers from the entrance to the ancient city, in a spectacular location with panoramic views overlooking the Vivari Channel and the Mediterranean Sea. 

The project’s initial funding of USD $2.45m has been secured and the project has a fast-track timetable: the finished building is due to open in September 2025.

Full details of how to enter the competition are available on the dedicated competition website.

Butrint National Park, Remains of the Great Basilica in Butrint's ancient city. Image © Albanian-American Development Foundation

Elva Margariti, Minister of Culture and Chair of the Butrint Management Foundation, said: "We are ambitious for our new visitor center to be an architectural exemplar, a unique statement for the site and Albania, promoting a wider appreciation of Albania’s many cultural and archaeological treasures."

"Balancing the provision of public access with the preservation of both archaeological and natural resources is a significant challenge for all World Heritage Sites and, post-pandemic as visitor numbers multiply, visitor management is key to the sustainability of Butrint as an international tourism destination."

"The center must convey the Outstanding Universal Values of this World Heritage Site, serving as an educational forum and community-gathering place and acting as a regional hub for tourists to promote other nearby natural and cultural attractions."

"From the finalists who reach the competition’s second, concept design stage, we’ll be seeking charismatic yet practical architecture that perfectly relates to the extraordinary cultural and natural setting."

Butrint National Park, Butrint's early Byzantine Baptistery in the ancient city. Image © Albanian-American Development Foundation

Competition format

The official language of the competition is English. No design is required at the first stage — rather designers will need to study the Search Statement (available to download from the competition website) and submit their team composition, approach to the project, relevant experience and pre-qualification questionnaire through a digital form on the website.

The competition requires integrated multidisciplinary design teams comprising as a minimum: architect (and lead designer), landscape architect, masterplanner, exhibition and interpretation designer, archaeologist, engineering disciplines including sustainability, cost consultant and a wayfinding consultant.

At the second stage four teams will be shortlisted, and these will receive an honorarium of USD $10,000 for their design work when the competition concludes with the selection of the winner.

The competition jury includes Elva Margariti, Minister of Culture, Albania; Martin Mata, Co-CEO, Albanian-American Development Foundation; Aleksandër Sarapuli, Co-CEO, Albanian-American Development Foundation; Róisín Heneghan, Co-Founder and Director, Heneghan Peng Architects; Mónica Luengo, Founder, ATP Architecture, Territory and Landscape; Suzanne Ogge, Director of Heritage and international Projects, studioMilou; and Emily Freeman-Attwood, Chair of the Butrint Foundation. Further jury members are expected to be announced during the competition; these will be advertised on the competition website. The jury will be advised by the Competition Director, Malcolm Reading.

After the design is selected, the winning team, if not licensed in Albania, will be expected to partner with an Albanian team to help deliver the project.

The deadline for first stage responses is: 14:00 GMT +1 Monday 24 October 2022. 

The competition’s second stage will start in autumn 2022; the winner announcement is expected in spring 2023.

Top image: Butrint National Park, view of Butrint Lake with the Venetian Castle in the foreground. Image © Albanian-American Development Foundation. 

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