A new performing arts design from the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has been announced for Kosovo’s capital city of Prishtina.
The forthcoming Opera & Ballet Theatre of Kosovo will stand aside three other public buildings at 456,336 square feet and offer patrons a 1,200-seat concert hall, another 1,000-seat theater, and a 300-seat recital hall. ALB-Architect is working alongside BIG as a project partner.
The ground plane from the neighboring Place of Youth & Sports is to be extended via its podium, which is reimagined as a newly activated public space. The building leaps from a natural stone landscape beset by small landscaped ‘islands’, and its services are wrought via a central back-of-house ‘spine.’
Founder Bjarke Ingels called it “an efficient factory for the fabrication of artistic performances,” adding that his firm was “deeply honored to be entrusted with the design of the new home for the performing arts in a country that has gifted the world with an outsized cultural impact in the performing arts.”
The design evokes the traditional Kosovar folk costume called the Xhubleta. The form of the structure and photovoltaic clad facade belies a ‘push’ and ‘pull’ of programmatic elements within it. Timber rafters will support the facade’s undulating shape and positioning of the roofline down to a nadir on the ground level.
Inside, curved timber elements will establish a unified design language. Halls and other interior spaces are suffused with a matted aesthetic. This makes it slightly similar in concept to the firm’s Vltava Philharmonic Hall in Prague.
BIG’s Andy Young says: “The design for the Opera & Ballet Theatre of Kosovo allows for the flexibility to accommodate the precise needs of the organisations who will occupy the spaces within, while providing a modern facility that can elicit joy and delight for future generations of visitors and performers alike. The theatre’s design symbolises a new era of the arts and culture of Kosovo – with the potential to touch the heart of everyone who experiences it.”
