OPPENHEIM ARCHITECTURE BUILDS WITH THE LAND, NOT ON IT

By Rudina Hoxha & Jose Pinto

“For our upcoming projects in Albania, we’re exploring and introducing designs near the water that encourage the country and its visitors to embrace the surrounding coast and allow them to truly appreciate its beauty.”

“In the Jali Hotel specifically, we’ve developed a structure that will frame and improve the nature of Albania. The structure itself uses textured concrete to reflect the Mediterranean sunset. We’ve also exclusively used locally sourced materials of wood, concrete, and stone for the construction of the hotel to pay tribute to the area’s local villages.”

Having an exclusive interview with Mr. Beat Huesler was almost an obsession for us given the amazing projects portfolio of the Oppenheim Architecture which is a fervent preserver of land and nature. Now we feel proud and honored to make it.

One Albanian investor reached Oppenheim Architecture for a project and many others sprang out of it.

“Our relationship with Albania has developed into a partnership that’s led to more opportunities to define the country’s booming hospitality industry,” Huesler told TRAILBLAZING MAGAZINE ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN.

Oppenheim is spotting limitless possibilities in Albania. “The possibilities for Albania, its landscape, and its history – with a new airport and tunnel through its mountains in the works – are limitless; our list of projects to design in the country is already growing.”

The company has teamed up with local architects and craftspeople on its projects “to ensure that we’re staying true to the area’s rich history and designing with the land at the forefront.”

Ten other projects are in the pipeline for Oppenheim, including a beach club development, multiple resorts, a cliffside hotel and a range of public and multi-housing spaces and high-rises in cities like Tirana.

Beat Huesler is a licensed architect with over 28 years’ professional experience with firms in New

York and Basel, Switzerland, and his own practice, Huesler Architekten.

His collaboration with Chad Oppenheim, Founding Principal of Oppenheim Architecture, extends back to their studies at Cornell University in New York and was cemented in 2009 when they jointly established the Swiss office of Oppenheim Architecture.

Huesler heads the European studio, managing a senior architectural team to deliver projects in urban and remote locations around the world.

Full interview below:

Can you describe the first contact with Albania and how this relationship has evolved from that moment to date?

Almost two years ago, an Albanian Investor reached out to the Oppenheim team looking to enhance his hotel project in the area while being tactful with the landscape and working with what the land already has to offer. With our design and construction on Jala, Albania’s Mediterranean southern

Beyond our progress in the country, the projects have impacted our own team and helped us grow the European office internally with many members of our team working on the various projects we have set for Albania coast, our relationship with Albania has developed into a partnership that’s led to more opportunities to define the country’s booming hospitality industry. We’ve even teamed up with local architects and craftspeople who are well-versed in Albania’s landscape to consult on our projects to ensure that we’re staying true to the area’s rich history and designing with the land at the forefront.

Could you elaborate on the specific projects Oppenheim is engaged in Albania?

Our work in Albania started with the Jali Hotel, projected to open in 2025, which is a collection of 50 low-rise “houses” along the hills of Jala. The hotel mirrors a town square with its inclusion of restaurants and food stores that serve local cuisine, a cultural center, and other amenities including spas, fitness centers, clubs, and other event spaces. We’re also in the process of designing more than ten other projects, including a beach club development, multiple resorts, a cliffside hotel and a range of public and multi-housing spaces and high-rises in cities like Tirana.

How much satisfaction has given to you and to your Team the projects you are working on in Albania? What makes these projects so inspiring for Oppenheim?

The satisfaction we feel with our projects in the country stems from the working relationships we’ve built with the enthusiastic leaders of Albania, local architects and community. Already a vast area with infinite possibilities for architecture, our development of the ongoing hotel projects has shown us just a fraction of Albania’s potential to become a booming tourism hub that still supports the locals and the communities they’ve built. Working with and in Albania has really allowed the Oppenheim team to flourish and expand our knowledge of how to shape a country’s built environment without overshadowing the existing structural landscape. Beyond our progress in the country, the projects have impacted our own team and helped us grow the European office internally with many members of our team working on the various projects we have set for Albania. We’ve really set the standard for a more contextual and vernacular design approach for other architects and firms to build in Albania, and we’re honored that our projects have allowed us to support the growth of tourism and the country as a whole.

To what extent has the breathtaking landscape of Albanian coast influenced the conceptualization of the projects in Albania? How will you take care of the environment and sustainability?

The landscape of the Albanian coast provides our projects with a stunning view of the Adriatic and Ionian Sea. However, the architectural language of Albania centers around an expansive history that shows a fusion between Greek, Montenegrin and Croatian influences. For example, the buildings in Albania are located in the hills instead of near the water because of the country’s history of pirate invasions. With this in mind for our upcoming projects in Albania, we’re exploring and introducing designs near the water that encourage the country and its visitors to embrace the surrounding coast and allow them to truly appreciate its beauty. In the Jali Hotel specifically, we’ve developed a structure that will frame and improve the nature of Albania. The structure itself uses textured concrete to reflect the Mediterranean sunset. We’ve also exclusively used locally sourced materials of wood, concrete, and stone for the construction of the hotel to pay tribute to the area’s local villages. Our philosophy at Oppenheim Architecture is always to build with the land, not on it, and our projects in Albania keep this at their core.

You and your Team have visited Albania several times by now. What are the impressions? Do you see many cooperation possibilities?

The possibilities for Albania, its landscape, and its history – with a new airport and tunnel through its mountains in the works – are limitless; our list of projects to design in the country is already growing. Although we’re already seeking insight from local architects and craftspeople on our projects, we’re excited to see what partnerships these new projects bring and how they’ll develop our existing ones.

Our office trip to Albania last year was not just the team’s highlight of the year, but also a full week of learnings from multiple leaders of the country. To discover the unique genius loci of Albania as a team, helped us to design our projects even closer to the place.

What designers and studios Oppenheim has cooperated with? Can you mention any conspicuous project?

To name the most recent studio collaborations, I can mention Atelier4, Xplan, Compass Studio and Commonsense.

Outside of our partnership with Albania, we’ve collaborated with a number of designers and studios that support and further our principle to create sustainable structures that work with and not against the existing natural landscape. Our Desert Rock resort, which we’re expecting to finish in 2024 was designed in partnership with the Red Sea Development Company. The resort is not only an example of our collaboration with designers and studios, but also with the local community as we worked to create a resort that supports the existing wildlife and encourages visitors to engage with the economy and history of Saudi Arabia with local leaders guiding tours of the area.

We’re also expanding our scope within the metaverse and virtual reality realm. We worked with The Boundary, an architectural visualization agency, to design two different virtual art gallery spaces: Minoru Onoda: Through Another Lens and A KASSEN: Opening Hours.

How is one working day in your life as a well-known architect?

Every working day as an architect in general comes with different ideas, experiences, and new opportunities for innovation. My team in the European office is always challenging me and the firm to push the boundaries of the architecture in every project we pursue whether that’s a hotel, a home, an office, or any other space we may take on. Architectural design fluctuates with the ever-changing world and as it does, we dip into new design experiences shifting around from the metaverse to regenerative tourism and other sectors of architecture. A working day in my life might be a day of designing, it may be a day consulting and meeting with clients, sometimes a working day is spent on site for project builds, and sometimes, I might spend the day just reading and researching new perspectives and ways to approach design – each day different from the rest.

Most importantly, every day we stay humble to the great responsibilities we have with our architecture. This is especially true to our work in Albania. We care about Albania and its built future. We want to learn from its past and its unique history and are proud to assist and enhance in countries the architectural future.