Bjarke Ingels Group has been selected to design Faith Park, an ambitious 200,000-square-meter public park that will sprawl across the hillsides outside Tirana, Albania. The project represents a groundbreaking approach to spiritual architecture, creating what the architects describe as "a landscape of coexistence" that brings together architecture, landscape design, and spirituality within a single continuous terrain stretching from the valley floor to the mountain crest.
The masterplan unfolds like a genealogical tree of faith, featuring pathways that diverge from a shared starting point in the valley and gradually ascend through carefully designed gardens, traditional olive groves, and naturally forested slopes. Along these winding routes, nine distinct pavilions will emerge from the terrain, with each structure dedicated to a different spiritual tradition. The placement and architectural form of these pavilions follow the natural contours of the Albanian hillside, creating a spatial rhythm that deliberately alternates between moments of enclosure and openness, encouraging both quiet reflection and active movement.
At the park's entrance, visitors will encounter the Museum of Remembrance, which gathers nine rammed-earth volumes around a central garden space. The building's distinctive earthen texture is designed to set the tone for the entire experience, centering the visitor's attention on the physical presence and significance of the land itself. This entrance structure serves as both a gateway and an introduction to the park's central themes of remembrance and spiritual diversity.
Each pavilion within Faith Park has been meticulously designed by Bjarke Ingels Group to be constructed from materials that directly reflect the geographic and cultural heritage of the spiritual tradition it represents. The Jewish pavilion will feature Jerusalem limestone, while the Christian structure will showcase colored Italian marble. The Islamic pavilion will be built using white sandstone mosaic, and the pavilions representing Dharmic and East Asian traditions will incorporate an array of materials including granite, onyx, marble, and river-polished stone. As visitors progress through the park, this carefully curated sequence of materials creates what the architects describe as a "tactile archive," with each surface carrying its own distinctive weight, texture, and color.
The architectural philosophy behind Faith Park emphasizes harmony with the natural environment rather than dominance over it. The buildings are designed to appear as if they grow organically from the landscape itself, merging built form and natural terrain into a single, unified field. Gardens and pedestrian pathways are arranged to follow the site's natural gradients and topographic features, while native Mediterranean vegetation including olive trees, cypress, and pine emphasizes the park's connection to its regional context.
Faith Park joins a growing series of ambitious public projects that are transforming Tirana and Albania as a whole. Over the past decade, the country has undergone a gradual architectural transformation led by both international and local architects, including notable projects such as Archi-Tectonics' Festival City, Oppenheim Architecture's colorful Vlore Beach Urban Development, Studio Libeskind's Magnet Residence, and Bofill Taller de Arquitectura's Red Sol Resort. This new park extends this progressive approach into the Albanian highlands, embracing the mountainous landscape as a civic realm rather than treating it as a boundary to development.
Bjarke Ingels Group is collaborating with a specialized team that includes SON Architects and artist Edoardo Tresoldi to ensure the park welcomes visitors from all backgrounds and beliefs. The design incorporates extensive spaces for walking, gathering, and contemplation, making it accessible to both religious pilgrims and secular visitors interested in architecture and landscape design.
Bjarke Ingels himself describes the ambitious project as "a livable, inhabitable evolutionary tree of faith mapped onto the natural topography of a mountain, connecting the valley to the summit, the earth to the heavens, and rooted in respect for nature." This statement reflects the firm's broader design philosophy that views ecological awareness and environmental stewardship as essential forms of reverence and spiritual practice, suggesting that Faith Park will serve not only as a destination for religious reflection but also as a model for sustainable design in challenging terrain.
