Kengo Kuma wins design of the Butrint National Park visitor centre in Albania

The Butrint National Park in the ancient Greek city of Butrint is located in the southern part of Albania. A UNESCO heritage site, it is surrounded by turquoise waters of saltmarshes, wetlands, reedbeds and islands, where the park beautifully weaves the lake and lagoon of Butrint, the natural channel of Vivari, the islands of Ksamil, and several historic sites chronicling the city's Greek, Roman, and Byzantine history, dating back to 800 BC. A design competition, organised by Malcolm Reading Consultants—a UK-based international organiser of architectural competitions—in collaboration with the Republic of Albania Ministry of Culture, Butrint Management Foundation, and Albanian-American Development Foundation invited entries for the development of a visitor centre at the park.

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma with his Tokyo-based team was listed as the winner of the competition. The participating teams were asked to create "a design that is both thought-provoking and practical—one that is efficient and functional but also charismatic." It required the proposals to focus on the groundwork of creating the plan for a visitor centre of up to 1000 sqm, with the space serving as the heart of the park—to receive, welcome and orient visitors. The brief envisioned aimed at conveying "the outstanding universal values of the world heritage site and be a gateway to the wider national park." Expected to be a regional hub to promote other nearby natural and cultural visitor attractions, the project also includes a new ticket office added with staff workspaces and support facilities.

The winning design by Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA) proposed the centre be built in a way that it blends with nature, the design representing a proactive and forward-thinking approach towards various climatic factors, including the rising sea levels in Butrint’s low-lying peninsula. To support local communities and introduce sustainability, the built form involves the use of local resources and minimal construction impact on archaeology and landscape. The visitor's centre is covered by a series of seemingly weightless angular roofs with a jagged exterior, and a layered aesthetic composed of stone slates. These roofs cover a wooden frame structure with rammed earth walls, the architecture ingeniously camouflaged with its context. Just like the previous creation of the Kengo Kuma-designed sauna MANE SAZAE featuring a spiralled wooden shell, layered materiality is also a key feature of this project.

To establish new connections between local communities and the expected visitors to the archaeological site, the designated area for the visitor centre is located in a strategic nodal position. Enhancing the visual and sensory experience of arrival, a dense crossway between the trails, starting from the mountain paths connecting to the wetlands on the Vivari Channel and the moorings on Lake Butrint, brings the attention of the pedestrians to the panoramic location overlooking the estuary and the lake.

After analysing the site at anurban level, the former ticket area and mooring are allocated to encourage maximum interaction of visitors, which is moreover seen as an opportunity to consolidate and create new circular economies and showcase the actual archaeological site entrance.

The proposal by KKAA proposes the creation of two centres—one, high on an altitude that would act as a 'mountain gate' welcoming the visitors and connecting them with the most natural part of the site, and the other, 'the archaeological site' that connects the mooring on the Butrint Lake to the one on the Vivari Channel. The latter creates a public space, serving as an inclusive plaza where the resident and the guests can meet. As per the Japanese architecture firm, “this one-roof project intends to provide an area where people may witness the changing of the light, and weather, and share their daily working experiences.”

As encouraged by the rules of the competition, the landscape strategy by the winner considers the site as an archaeological park. To celebrate the pre-existent artefacts that reflect upon the last century, all the primary elements of the area are mapped and with the approach of way-finding, a trail is designed to guide the visitors to discover the ‘ruins’ existing within the site. New mountain trails are proposed, both to connect existing paths and to promote discoveries. The wetland trail is an essential asset for improving water circulation and slow mobility along the Vivari Canal.

Accessibility within the site is kept as ecological as possible by integrating primary mobility with electric buses, pedestrian trails, bike lanes, and mooring mobility based on electric boats. A series of paths, platforms, and additional piers are proposed to provide a strong tourist experience and, at the same time, offer new spaces for the community.

KKAA’s interpretation of the brief keeps in mind the requirements of the site and harnesses a design that respects the landscape’s natural, historic, and cultural significance. Set to serve as an ecological model for various other cultural organisations across Albania, the design is expected to raise national and international awareness of the World Heritage site and Albania’s wider cultural tourism.

Previous projects by the firm include a modern, Japanese-style inn called KAI Yufuin in the countryside of Ōita Prefecture; the HC Andersen Museum in Odense, Denmark, spatially channelling the fairytales of the Danish writer; a sinuous metal chain curtain for the Antoni Gaudi-designed Casa Batlló; and the Ibsen Library in Skien, Norway, attempted as a dream to make Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s literature accessible to everyone.

(Text by Sanskriti Vashisth, intern at STIRworld)