People often dress up to go to the theater but with this project, the theater itself is looking rather dapper. Designed by high-profile firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the new National Theatre of Albania will resemble an oversized bow tie and offer a view of backstage with glazed facades.
The new National Theatre of Albania is part of a wider ongoing development in the country's capital city Tirana. It will be located next to the National Opera and National Art Gallery.
Inside, visitors will be greeted by a ticket area flanked by two grand staircases leading up to the theater foyer. From there, they will be able to either continue to the main auditorium, up to the rooftop amphitheater or into one of two smaller performance venues. A bar, lounge and restaurant will also be available.
The bow tie design does offer some practical benefits. Its raised area will create a covered performance space underneath the building and offer pedestrians access. The north and south-facing facades will also be glazed, revealing some of the goings on inside, which actually sounds very interesting.
"The two main facades of the National Theatre of Albania are opened up to expose the spaces inside the building to the public outside," says BIG founder Bjarke Ingels. "One side reveals a foyer, lounge, bar and restaurant as well as two experimental stages to passersby, like rooms in a doll house. The other side reveals the entire section of the backstage, side stages, under stage and fly tower, exposing the entire theater machine to curious observers.
Where a theater typically wouldn't be open to the public until the early evening, the new Albanian National Stage will become a spectacle of production as well as performance throughout the day."
We've no word yet on when the National Theatre of Albania, which also involved Theatre Projects and SON Engineering, is due to be completed.
Source: BIG