Eye of the Lake: Residential Campus

Shkodra, Albania

The Eye of the Lake is a three-building residential campus located between Shkodra’s urban center and Shkodra Lake. The site offers extraordinary views of the city and mountains to the east, and of the water and distant shoreline of Montenegro to the west. Point-access cores allow every unit to face both directions. Each building’s slender massing maximizes cross-ventilation, daylight, and views. Facades and ground-level public spaces are additional focus areas that offer quality-of-life gains and support environmental responsibility.

WW is the lead design architect for all aspects of the project, with responsibility for site planning, unit design, technical development, design of all public areas, amenities, and commercial spaces on levels one and two. WW also has primary responsibility for regulatory presentations to the Albanian national planning authority (AZHT) and the Albanian Prime Minister. We are collaborating with Creativa, a Tirana-based office serving as the local architect of record. WW’s scope includes ongoing oversight of ongoing Design Development work and will continue through Construction Documents and Construction Administration.

Program: Housing, residential amenities, commercial space.

Area: 70,240 m2

Client: AL Invest sh.p.k., Shkodra, Albania

Status: The project has received planning approval and is currently in Design Development.

WW Team: Ron Witte, Sarah Whiting, Lara Hansmann, Ilya Rakhlin, Maggie Kroening, Patrick Wu, Baiting Chen, Mindy Ma

CreativA (local architect), Tirana: Gentian Stratoberdha, Atena Gjoka, Stela Lako, Leonida Duka