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Hillside Residence
Hillside Residence
Hillside Residence
Location:Mjullë Bathore, Tirana
Typology:
Residential Complex
Author|s:Artech Studio
Year of realisation:2020-2023
Collaborators:Genti Shtëmbari, Arbër Habilaj Bledar Ceka, Krenar Çaushi
The journey of Artech Studio has been shaped by the conviction that every project represents an opportunity to reinterpret the city and the landscape in a new way. Founded in 2016 by Arbër Habilaj and Gent Shtembari, the practice began with small-scale commissions, driven by the ambition that each intervention should contribute to shaping the urban skyline. Through sustained growth and a continuous pursuit of architectural excellence, the studio has progressively expanded towards projects of increasing complexity and urban significance. Today, Artech Studio stands as a well-established architectural practice in Albania, with a portfolio that has played a significant role in shaping the contemporary skyline of the country's cities.
Positioned on a hillside overlooking the southern landscape and the surrounding mountain ranges, the Hillside Residence Complex emerged from the challenge of reconciling the site's exceptional landscape potential with the spatial constraints of the plot. The linear configuration of the site risked limiting views and compromising privacy between the villas, prompting the design team to adopt the topography itself as the primary generator of the architectural concept. Rather than yielding to the site's limitations, the project transforms them into opportunities, creating a dynamic composition that orients each villa towards the horizon and the surrounding natural landscape.
The architectural language evolves through the careful transformation of the building volumes, with each villa articulated according to its specific position within the site. This strategy ensures optimal orientation, abundant natural daylight, and a balanced relationship between openness to the landscape and the preservation of privacy. The arrangement of openings, terraces, and clean linear architectural elements establishes a coherent rhythm throughout the development, while the form of each individual residence responds to the specific conditions of its location, creating a unified architectural identity without relying on repetitive typological solutions.
This project represents a defining moment in Artech Studio's design philosophy, demonstrating that architectural coherence is achieved not through uniformity but through the capacity to respond to the uniqueness of each situation. The development challenges the conventional repetition of a single residential typology, instead proposing an architectural approach in which every villa is the result of a direct dialogue with its context. Within this balance between form, landscape, and the experience of dwelling, the project embodies the studio's conviction that the most meaningful architecture is that which creates a distinct identity while remaining inseparably connected to the place in which it is built.
