Barcelona-based studio Bofill Taller de Arquitectura has unveiled the designs for The Veil, a terraced coastal resort in Dhërmi, Albania, that integrates 366 apartments and 77 villas into a heavily vegetated, mountainous landscape sloping toward the Adriatic Sea. Positioned carefully across two distinct plots, the development avoids extensive excavation by utilizing a series of stepped, horizontal stone platforms that follow the natural topography, allowing the buildings to rise among dense pine and cypress trees. By combining a muted, site-derived color palette with glazed ceramic tiles and concrete facades, the project is conceived as a lightweight intervention that balances the studio’s signature geometric rigor with a strong commitment to preserving the coastal ecosystem.
A delicate response to a sensitive terrain. The project occupies a highly sensitive geographical zone on the Albanian Riviera, where steep mountain slopes meet the dense, wild Mediterranean scrub that covers a major portion of the country’s coastal surface. Historically protected by its rugged geography, this landscape is highly vulnerable to intrusive construction. Rather than imposing a heavy, monolithic presence, the studio conceived the master plan as an invisible, porous fabric draped softly over the land. The intervention is structured around the preservation of existing old-growth trees, altering the layout to ensure that mature vegetation remains entirely undisturbed.
Topography as the primary structural guide. Rather than altering the natural contours through massive earthwork and excavation, the resort organizes its sixteen distinct housing typologies along the existing slope. Locally sourced stone forms the structural foundation, creating a terraced base that ascends and descends in harmony with the natural topography. This stone base establishes a continuous network of pedestrian pathways, open-air stairs, and bridges. To ensure visual coherence, the team collected samples of rock and soil directly from the Dhërmi coastline, establishing a palette of four natural tones that integrate the artificial pathways into the earth.
A play of light, shadow, and geometry. While the residential volumes vary in scale and layout, they are bound together by a unified material strategy of raw concrete and glazed ceramic tiles. The glazed surfaces are designed to capture the changing Mediterranean light, shifting in tone throughout the day to mirror the deep greens of the surrounding scrubland and the blues of the sea. Large floor-to-ceiling windows, open terraces, cantilevered balconies, and private pools give the volumes an airy, permeable quality. This horizontal layering allows the structures to step back gradually, providing unobstructed views of the Adriatic Sea while maintaining a low-profile silhouette from the water.
Yielding to the ancient vegetation. At the heart of the complex, the principal communal building houses a social club, a restaurant, a wellness gym, and several swimming pools. While the surrounding residential villas follow a strict, rectilinear geometric grid, this central hub breaks from the orthogonal plan. The building curves gracefully around a preserved grove of ancient trees, forming a central courtyard. It is in this specific courtyard where the philosophical driving force of the project becomes clearest; the built form willingly curves and retreats, leaving the natural ecology of the coastal landscape as the focal point of the spatial experience.
An intriguing duality in the studio’s coastal vision. For Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, this project represents a fascinating counterpoint to their current work on the Albanian coast. While their concurrent Red Sol Resort—also in Dhërmi—embraces highly expressive, vermilion-hued concrete walls that intentionally contrast with the environment in a nod to La Muralla Roja, this new coastal resort in Albania shifts entirely toward material assimilation. The sharp edges and geometric staircases remain a signature of their formal language, but the aggressive colors are replaced by earth tones and reflective glazes that absorb, rather than challenge, the hillside vegetation.
A broader national architectural shift. The realization of this coastal development coincides with an unprecedented wave of ambitious, international projects currently reshaping Albania. In recent years, the country has transformed into a thriving laboratory for contemporary architecture in Albania, attracting world-class studios to its cities and coastlines. From the geometric, castle-inspired forms of the NOA Berdenesh Hills Citadel near Vlorë, to the bold, spherical forms of the MVRDV Grand Ballroom and Spherical Arena Hotel in the capital, and the dramatic stepped lines of the Zig Zag Sustainable Luxury Resort in Himarë, the Balkan nation is rapidly establishing a new spatial identity.
These diverse interventions reflect a complex moment for the country’s landscape. As Albania positions itself as a premier European destination, its coastal and urban territories are being redefined by high-density, visually striking projects. The challenge for the coming decade lies in balancing this rapid aesthetic modernization with environmental stewardship. While bold towers and expressive structures redefine the skyline of Tirana, coastal projects like this new resort in Dhërmi suggest that the future of the Albanian Riviera may depend on the ability of builders to act with restraint, showing that sometimes the most powerful statement a building can make is the willingness to gracefully disappear.