Like a flowing skirt
The new Opera & Ballet Theatre in Kosovo is an avant-garde timber construction designed by Danish architectural studio Bjarke Ingels Group. It is no coincidence that this extraordinary structure conjures up images of a billowing skirt.
The Opera & Ballet Theatre in Kosovo’s capital Pristina will be the new home of the Kosovo Philharmonic, Ballet and Opera. Its design was submitted to the architecture competition tendered for this new project that aims to offer extra space while creating identity and upholding cultural heritage as well as attracting attention from around the world. And the winning architects at Bjarke Ingels Group in Denmark will undoubtedly achieve this. The design shows a sculptured building whose curved waves resemble a wide, billowing skirt. “The undulating roof creates a flowing and inviting gesture evocative of the Xhubleta, the traditional national dress of Kosovo,” says Bjarke Ingels, founder and creative director of architectural studio BIG.
The history of the Xhubleta goes back around 4,000 years, and it is worn by Albanian women in the Balkan highlands even today. This national dress usually features 13 to 17 horizontal stripes sewn together, which forms its bell-like silhouette. As it is increasingly disappearing from everyday life, the Xhubleta was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2022 as a traditional piece of clothing.
Outdoor space for pedestrians
In future, the bell-shaped design of the new Opera & Ballet Theatre will provide a lasting architectural tribute to the Xhubleta. The waves of the roof extend down to the ground, which gives the building its soft and supple appearance. It is as if the textiles have suddenly frozen, capturing their motion mid-scene.
The undulating roof creates a flowing and inviting gesture evocative of the Xhubleta, the traditional national dress of Kosovo.
Bjarke Ingels, founder and creative director of BIG
Entrances to the building are found wherever the roof curves upward to form a new wave. Visitors recognize this intuitively just by looking at the shape.
According to the architects, the outside space is quite deliberately geared solely towards pedestrians. The visualizations show the theatre on an expansive open area, without any direct street access. “By placing all vehicle servicing beneath the podium extension and all car parking in the basement, the site is liberated to become a new public park and plaza for Prishtina.”
Timber roof as structural brace
The shimmering photovoltaic tiles create a homogenous surface on the roof and generate electricity without being at all detrimental to the design.
Walking through to the interior, passing under the “seam” of the roof, visitors experience the majestic timber frame that supports this fluid form. The strictly geometric grid of parallel glulam beams is juxtaposed with the bright, rounded shapes in the concert, theatre and conference space.
The rational nucleus is wrapped in a continuous canopy, creating an engaging public space open in all directions.
Bjarke Ingels, founder and creative director of BIG
Taking a similar approach to Shigeru Ban’s prizewinning design for the Centre Pompidou-Metz, the timber roof acts like a structural brace for the various functions underneath. This airy packaging produced via a “pragmatic organization” of cultural activities allows spacious pockets of in-between space that convey a stately feeling.
Architect Bjarke Ingels gives the following description: “Our design for the Opera & Ballet Theatre of Kosovo is conceived like an efficient factory for the fabrication of artistic performances. The rational nucleus is wrapped in a continuous canopy, creating an engaging public space open in all directions.”
Wood enhances aesthetics and acoustics
The concert and theatre space is defined by curved timber elements that have an aesthetic character and also improve the room acoustics.
Matt timber surfaces complement the lush velvet upholstery and weighty sound-absorbing curtains. The uniform design concept conveys a sense of sophistication and underlines the sensory experience of a theatre visit on both a visual and a haptic level.
A strip of skylights up above in the central lobby accentuates the high ceiling and allows natural daylight to shine through from high up down to the ground floor below. This produces a slightly enraptured scene that gives a cathedral-like feel to this cultural building. “The theatre’s design symbolizes a new era of the arts and culture of Kosovo – with the potential to touch the heart of everyone who experiences it,” explains Andy Young, partner at BIG in London.
Text: Gertraud Gerst
Translation: Rosemary Bridger-Lippe
Visualizations: BIG