Bofill Taller de Arquitectura unveils terraced green resort in Albania

Set along the mountainous coastline of Dhërmi, The Veil by Bofill Taller de Arquitectura proposes a resort development that is carefully embedded within its coastal forest setting.

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Directed by Pablo Bofill alongside design principals Hernán Cortés and Alborz Mohammadi, the project responds to a sensitive ecological context where dense deciduous woodland meets steep terrain descending to the Adriatic Sea.

Rather than imposing a singular built form, the scheme is distributed across two plots and composed of 366 apartments and 77 villas arranged in 16 typologies. The design strategy avoids large-scale excavation, instead allowing the architecture to follow the natural contours of the land. A series of stepped platforms supports a dense yet permeable arrangement of green-toned volumes that rise among existing trees, forming what the studio describes as a continuous layered fabric that sits lightly within the landscape.

Circulation is shaped by a network of paths and stairs formed from locally sourced stone, calibrated to reflect the tonal qualities of the surrounding environment. Four colour variations, derived from on-site material sampling, reinforce a sense of continuity between built form and terrain. Existing vegetation is preserved wherever possible, with mature trees retained as integral components of the masterplan, supporting a low-impact approach that prioritises ecological sensitivity.

Within this horizontal framework, individual buildings extend vertically through the forest canopy to capture views towards the Adriatic. Generous glazing, terraces, balconies and private pools extend living spaces outward, creating a porous architectural language that emphasises openness and connection to place. While the volumes vary in size and configuration, they are unified through a restrained palette of concrete and glazed ceramic tiles that modulate light and shadow across the facades.

At the centre of the development, currently under construction, a communal building accommodates a social club, restaurant, gym and a sequence of pools. Its courtyard form gently diverges from the project’s rectilinear logic, curving around an existing cluster of mature trees and reinforcing the project’s overarching commitment to working with, rather than against, the natural landscape.

Images courtesy of Bofill Taller de Arquitectura via Designboom