Vlora, a Fantastic Location for Albanian Jewish Museum

We’ll Create a One-of-a- Kind Structure that Blends in the City

Renderings of Albanian Jewish Museum in Vlora city.

Courtesy of Kimmel-Eshkolot Architects

Kimmel-Eshkolot Architects is an Israeli architecture firm, founded by Etan Kimmel and Michal Kimmel-Eshkolot in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1986. In its first years of practice, the firm was involved in the preservation and rehabilitation of Neve Tzedek, the historical neighborhood of Tel Aviv. Throughout the years the firm won several national competitions for the design of high-profile public projects in Israel, such as the new expansion of the government compound (“Kiryat Hamemshala”) in Jerusalem, the Davidson Museum in the Archaeological Park near the Western Wall and the Memorial Center for Israeli military casualties at Mount Herzl.

In 2011 the firm won the Rechter Prize for Architecture, considered to be the most prestigious award for architecture in Israel. It received the award for the design of a rehabilitation center for IDF disabled veterans, located in Be’er Sheva. This project was also selected for project of the year in the international competition of the magazine Israeli Architecture. Kimmel Eshkolot Architects won first prize in the international Dedalo Minosse competition and the RIBA award for international excellence 2018 for The National Memorial in Mount Herzl.

The Tel Aviv-based architecture studio, Kimmel Eshkolot Architects will echo the story of the Jewish community in Albania in the architecture of the Albanian Jewish Museum whose design was recently selected by an international jury.

“The jury’s selection of our project revealed the unique connection that we have - as Jews and Israelis - to the story of the museum and of the Jewish population in Albania during World War II,” Prof. Arch. Etan Kimmel, Co-Founder of Kimmel Eshkolot Architects told TRAILBLAZING MAGAZINE Architecture & Design.

Brief introduction: could you describe the activities and peculiarities of Kimmel Eshkolot Architects?

Kimmel Eshkolot Architects, based in Tel Aviv, works across the full range of architectural design and production. From the scale of interior design and the private sector, up to the urban design - our office is responsible for several of the important public projects built in Israel in the recent decades. Recent projects include the national Memorial Hall in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, as well as several commissions for universities and museums. We also enjoy the design of mixed-use projects with retail, hotels, offices and residential spaces. In addition, we had the opportunity to design several of the Israeli embassies around the world.

Your Studio is mostly involved in local projects of great importance for Israel. But lately your Studio won the architectural project of the Albanian Jewish Museum in Vlora. It is an important recognition of the unique history of the co-existence between the Albanians and the Jewish community. Can you elaborate more on the design and technical needs for this building? How have you thought about reviving the with important historical values of this project?

It is interesting that we were short listed in a competition in which the proposals were reviewed anonymously - five

international architectural practices were invited to submit their designs to an international jury, headed by Arch. Prof. Rainer Mahlamäki. The jury’s selection of our project revealed the unique connection that we have - as Jews and Israelis - to the important story of the museum telling about the Jewish population in Albania during World War II. Only when we began working on the competition did we discover about the unique stories of solidarity between Albanians, stories that are mostly unknown to the public in Israel and stand in strong contrast to other places in Europe during the time of the war. The vast majority of Jewish Albanians were protected and saved by their neighbors and their communities, who gave them shelter and provided them with all sorts of documents. We were looking for the appropriate way of echoing this story in the architecture of the museum.

Memorial Hall Building

Recently you visited Vlora city where the Albanian Jewish Museum will be erected. What were your impressions about this city and how are you going to integrate it into this project?

Vlora was really a great discovery for us. The entire area of the historical quarter of the city was recently restored in a lovely way, making it an attractive place to walk around. This area was also the home of the Jewish community who used to live in those streets. This is where the site of the museum is located. We found it to be a fantastic location for this project.

On another note, what do you aim to bring to Albania architecture with this Museum?The museum aims at two contradicting objectives at once - to be seamlessly embedded within its surroundings while being an iconic architectural object. We would like to bring the parametric architecture with its spatial complexities that we’ve employed in several projects in Israel - such as the CheckPoint building of Computer Science to create in Vlora a one-of-a-kind structure that blends into the city.

Any challenges in the design and construction process of the Albanian Jewish Museum?

The project is in Design Development phase with Atelier4 as our local architects, and so far, the process has been successful and enjoyable.

What have you incorporated into your company that you have learned from your extensive international experience?

We always aspire to combine the particularities of the local context with the universal Zeitgeist, and in the case of the museum also connecting the local context and Israel. We plan to bring a small amount of the stone for the project from Israel - about 2% of the total amount - and mix it with the local stone to make a blend visually and symbolically..

Given the current situation, how will the architectural approach in the hospitality sector change?

As an office that is experienced in the design of hotels and restaurants - we’ve seen ups and downs in this sector during the pandemic. After two difficult years we expect a great rise of investment in leisure and tourism.

Check-point Building