New Selman Stërmasi Stadium , Tirana/ Albanien

Press release by OMA

OMA / David Gianotten Wins Competition to Transform Tirana’s Selman Stërmasi Stadium

Tirana, April 7, 2025 – OMA / David Gianotten has won the competition to revitalize the historic Selman Stërmasi Stadium and its surrounding area in central Tirana, Albania. The design expands the existing football park and makes it a catalyst for closer connections between different neighborhoods in the city.

OMA’s project reconfigures the stadium, built in 1956, as an integral element of an urban scheme to connect the Blloku and Komuna e Parisit neighborhoods. The layered composition of this mixed-use development, featuring new buildings and generous open spaces, refers to Albania’s mountainous landscape.

OMA Managing Partner – Architect David Gianotten: “Football is a cornerstone of urban culture and national identity across Europe and around the world, and we feel it especially intensely here in Tirana. Our design is meant to accelerate the exciting changes taking place in the city, while fostering closer bonds within and between neighborhoods and communities here.”

The project comprises the stadium itself, a triangular plaza at its entrance, and new mixed-use spaces including apartments of various sizes, a hotel, offices, retail and F&B. The stadium’s seating capacity is increased from 9,500 to 15,000 and a new arena bowl introduces unobstructed stands and clear lines of sight for spectators, and reduces the distance between the stands and the pitch.

The stadium and adjacent buildings frame the open spaces, which are adaptable to match days and everyday life. The triangular plaza can function as a fan zone or a space for spontaneous activities. The new block’s design refers to the Stadium of Amantia, adapting the reference to this Illyrian structure from the third century BCE to a contemporary urban setting. The ancient stadium, built in what is today southern Albania, was characterized by stacked stone slabs and a pitch carved out of its mountainous site. In the new Selman Stërmasi Stadium block, the buildings are clad in natural stone and arranged to form peaks and terraces.

OMA Associate Kees van Casteren: “By integrating the stadium into a new urban development, we wanted to connect two distinct areas of the city through a shared culture of football as well as spontaneous activities.”

The competition design was led by OMA’s David Gianotten and Kees van Casteren, in collaboration with LOLA Landscape Architects, Royal Haskoning DHV, and Petrit Halilaj.

OMA’s design was selected among competition entries by Foster + Partners, FAR frohn&rojas, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, and Zaha Hadid Architects.

More information on the project can be found here.


CREDITS
New Selman Stërmasi Stadium

Project: New Selman Stërmasi Stadium
Status: Competition (First Prize)
Client: Albania Investment Construction, Diagonal Projektim & Zbatim
Location: Tirana, Albania
Site: 6 ha.
GFA: 120.000 m2 (excluding basement)
Program: 15.000-seat Stadium 15.700 m2, residential 30.800 m2, retail 29.700 m2,
offices 16.700 m2, hotel 11.900 m2, F&B 7.900 m2, conference 4.800 m2, spa 2.500 m2

Partner: David Gianotten
Associate-in-charge: Kees van Casteren
Team: Ana Otelea, Antonie van Vliet, Gerrit Knappers, Jorge Cerdo Schumann, Najla Alayoubbi
Visualization: Stefania Trozzi, Diego Iacono

COLLABORATORS
Landscape architect: LOLA Landscape Architects
Structures, sustainability, cost consultancy: Royal Haskoning DHV
Art: Petrit Halilaj