Anri Sala and N1N4E win the European Prize for Urban Public Space

Esther Schipper congratulates Anri Sala and the architecture firm 51N4E, who have won the European Prize for Urban Public Space for their renovation of Skanderbeg Square in Sala's native Tirana, Albania. 

Like no other public space, Skanderbeg Square, Tirana’s nerve centre and symbolic site for the whole country, reflects Albania’s complex, convulsive history. Finalised in 2017, the rennovation has turned Skanderbeg Square into a public space of more than ten hectares exclusively for the pedestrian use. In the centre of the square there is a clear esplanade of almost 40,000 square metres. Rather than being flat, the esplanade is shaped like a four-sided Roman pyramid with a slope of 2.5% and a height of two metres at its tip. A fountain at the top lets water trickle down the sides, thus bringing out the colours of the mosaic paving which is made from stones from all over Albania.