Dutch architecture firm MVRDV has revealed plans for a striking new arena in Tirana, Albania: a gigantic spherical arena‑complex dubbed “The Grand Ballroom”, designed to replace the city’s existing Asllan Rusi sports palace.
The design, revealed following the firm’s competition win, combines a 6,000‑seat arena for basketball and volleyball with a hotel, residential apartments, and ground‑floor retail, all set within a striking sphere more than 100 metres in diameter. The building’s sphere shape creates a continuous exterior, eliminating traditional “rear” facades and giving the arena a 360-degree presence within its urban surroundings.
“The spherical shape is a reference to the round ball used by so many sports. Yet it also recalls enlightenment temples, from Étienne-Louis Boullée’s Cenotaph for Newton to Buckminster Fuller’s tribute to technological optimism, the geodesic dome,” said MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas.
By stacking the hotel and residential units atop the arena, the design accommodates a large mix of functions within a relatively compact site area. This approach allows the building to combine multiple functions to coexist without taking up too much space. At ground level, the sphere is carved into a sunken plaza with terraced seating, cafés, shops, and public amenities, creating a lively urban space. Beneath the arena, training courts are integrated to maximise usable space and remain accessible to the public.
The hotel sits two floors above the arena, with rooms on the lower level offering direct views of the court. On the upper level, amenity spaces cantilever over the stands, forming a large oculus in the arena ceiling. The opening can be glazed with thick glass, creating a soundproof barrier while maintaining a clear visual connection between the hotel and the arena, allowing guests to watch matches from both private rooms and shared spaces.
“A great sphere in the heart of Tirana can similarly become a temple to sport and community. By connecting the different functions, it invites everyone in the building to be part of the action,” added Maas.
Above the hotel, apartments are arranged within the sphere’s double-shell structure, creating a vast, semi-outdoor dome that mirrors the shape of the arena below. The interior serves as a courtyard garden for residents, complete with mature trees, seating, and landscaped areas for relaxation. Large openings puncture the dome in several locations, allowing natural ventilation and creating additional communal green spaces, each with its own distinctive character.
The apartments feature dual-aspect layouts, offering views over Tirana as well as into the interior garden, with some units even looking down into the arena through the oculus. Near the top of the dome, duplex penthouses open onto private rooftop terraces, while a quarter of the upper ring is devoted to a double-height skybar for hotel guests, providing sweeping panoramic views across the city.
Exterior materials include metallic panels and glass, reflecting light across the sphere’s surface, while interior gardens add organic softness and texture. Maas describes the building as “a beacon, aiming to inspire and encourage people to play and to watch sport. A place to play, meet, and celebrate”.
With a total floor area of roughly 90,200 square metres, MVRDV’s Grand Ballroom is envisioned as a project that could reshape both Tirana’s skyline and its public spaces, bringing sports, hospitality, housing and retail together within a single monumental structure. The development is expected to become a prominent new landmark for the Albanian capital.
