Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled The Nest and Cascades, a hillside residential and hospitality masterplan in Tirana, developed for AgiKons, a real estate developer in Albania.
The project is located in Kodra e Diellit, a hillside neighbourhood to the south of Tirana where villas, pedestrian walkways, courtyards, and wooded pockets form an established residential landscape. Housing in the area has gradually shifted from detached villa plots towards more layered residential forms shaped by slope and density.
The Nest and The Cascades introduce a denser arrangement of housing and hospitality across the hillside, organised through stepped building forms, courtyards, and terraced landscapes that work with the existing topography.
Living with the hillside
The Nest is arranged across four plots, forming a series of one to three-bedroom apartments set around a central park. The landscape is integrated into everyday use, with Mediterranean planting used to create shaded outdoor areas across the site.
Building orientation is shaped by site conditions including slope, sun exposure, wind, humidity, rainfall, and air movement. The façades are arranged to draw in prevailing easterly winds, supporting natural cross-ventilation through the apartments.
Recessed terraces and projecting balconies extend living spaces outward, creating sheltered outdoor zones linked directly to the interior rooms. The scheme is targeting LEED v4.1 Residential BD+C: Multifamily Homes Gold certification.
The embodied carbon intensity of The Nest is 471kgCO₂e/m², compared with a regional benchmark of 566kgCO₂e/m². Material choices include recycled aggregates and terracotta cladding, with the four buildings expressed in fawn, terracotta, and deep red stucco tones drawn from the surrounding hillside.
Landscape design supports local microclimatic conditions. Shaded planting areas reduce heat exposure, while green coverage extends across 55% of the site. Permeable paving, high-albedo surfaces, and native planting are used to limit heat build-up.
Water is managed on site through a closed-loop system, with rainwater collected for irrigation and greywater treated for reuse. Solar energy generation is integrated into the scheme, alongside electric vehicle charging and bicycle storage.
A stepped extension into the slope
The Cascades extends the existing Arka Art Hotel in Kodra e Diellit, adding a 120-room hotel wing and a residential component set above a podium embedded into the hillside.
The building is organised as a stepped composition that follows the natural gradient of the terrain. Two courtyards structure the scheme, one extending the hotel’s terraces and dining areas, and another forming a quieter garden space with views across the valley.
Deep terraces run through both hotel and residential levels, extending interior spaces outward and shaping a range of sheltered and open conditions across the building.
The podium is constructed from locally quarried limestone. Above it, glass-reinforced concrete panels form the façade, reflecting local stone tones and cast on site in modular sections to reduce transport requirements.
Inside, lime-based stucco is used to regulate humidity, bronze balustrades are used for durability, and chestnut flooring is sourced sustainably. Rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, green roofs, external shading, and hybrid ventilation systems are integrated across the building.
Together, The Nest and The Cascades form a continuous hillside development where housing, hospitality, and landscape are shaped by terrain and climate.
