selgascano's sky-K rises as two colorful residential 'chimneys' along the coast of albania

"Sky-K by Selgascano rises in Durrës, Albania, as a pair of slender residential towers set just behind Rruga Taulantia, the seaside street recently shaped into a linear park along the Adriatic coast. The project sits in a dense coastal fabric, where apartment blocks, palm-lined promenades, port infrastructure, and beach life press closely together. From the water, the building appears almost suddenly above the skyline, its red and yellow volumes catching the sun from behind the existing city front."

"The site is set back from the waterfront, which gives the tower a strange double presence. It belongs to a small hidden lot at ground level, yet its height and color make it part of the wider city image. Selgascano uses that condition directly. The building does little to blend into its surroundings, but its thin footprint keeps the intervention compact, allowing light and views to pass around it."

"Selgascano, working with FRPO Rodríguez & Oriol, plans the base of Sky-K as an open Mediterranean garden, bringing vegetation into a tight residential block. The tower meets the ground through six concrete columns, lifting the main volume above the site and leaving the lower level available as a planted space for nearby residents. In the project description, Selgascano frames this move as a way to minimize the building's footprint while giving something back to the local neighborhood."

"That choice gives the tower a different relationship to the street than the neighboring buildings. Instead of filling the lot edge to edge, the structure rises from a planted pocket, with trees and shrubs gathering around its concrete legs. The garden softens the encounter with the tower's scale, while the lifted base gives the building a lighter stance than its height might suggest."

Sky-K by Selgascano rises in Durrës, Albania, as two slender residential towers set behind Rruga Taulantia, a seaside street shaped into a linear park along the Adriatic coast. The towers appear suddenly above the skyline from the water, with red and yellow volumes catching sunlight behind the existing city front. The site is set back from the waterfront, creating a double presence: the building belongs to a small hidden lot at ground level while contributing to the wider city image. The thin footprint keeps the intervention compact and allows light and views to pass around it. The base is an open Mediterranean garden, supported by six concrete columns that lift the main volume and leave the lower level planted for nearby residents.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine