TIRANA, March 27 – Tirana’s iconic pyramid building, one of the communism era landmarks in the capital city, is set to become a youth multifunctional center focused on digital literacy.
The project targeting to enhance teens’ digital skills and prepare them for next generation jobs will revitalize the now almost useless Pyramid building as an initiative of the Municipality of Tirana in cooperation with the Albanian American Development Foundation, AADF, which has also previously financially supported the transformation of Tirana’s landmark Pazari i Ri (New Bazaar) and ‘Avni Rustemi’ square.
A former mausoleum of late Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha, the Pyramid was built in 1988 to posthumously commemorate Hoxha’s 80th birthday, three years after his death.
“We are making the first official step on the formalization of an agreement between the Municipality of Tirana and the Albanian-American Development Fund to transform the Tirana Pyramid, our city’s most iconic building, into the biggest youth center, mainly focused on digital education, information technology literacy and serving art, culture, offering vocational training education courses or other youth opportunities,” said Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj as he signed a deal with the AADF this week.
“Making this building available to Tirana youngsters will have a transforming impact on our city,” said Veliaj, adding that Tirana’s average population age of about 28 years, Europe’s youngest city, is a great advantage.
The project’s first stage includes the building’s rehabilitation to continue with its management considering an expected 5,000 young men and women visiting it every day to attend training courses on ICT such as designing and programming.
The Albanian American Development Foundation says it is considering the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, based in Armenia, but about to be launched also in Paris, Moscow and Beirut, offering teens a new kind of educational experience at the intersection of technology and design.
“We are looking to find sustainable and modern models in education which have been tested around the world. One of them is the ‘TUMO’ project which we have seen in several countries and talked to them and they have agreed to come and manage it for the first few years,” says Martin Mata, the AADF co-director.
The AADF says it will provide the funding for the architectural project and business plan needed for the revitalization of the Pyramid, promoting it as a model for the creation of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies. The Center will promote digital education, information technology culture in the arts, and create challenging spaces for young people in Albania.
During the past two decades, the Pyramid building in Tirana’s central boulevard has served as an international cultural center and home to private businesses including coffee bars and a private TV.
The poor condition building only underwent provisional restoration in mid-2015.
Earlier 2010 plans to demolish the Pyramid and build a new Parliament building were hampered by the project’s huge financial costs and protests to keep the pyramid intact as a symbol of communism.
