Speaking at the event, Rama focused on the architectural developments that have transformed the capital, stating that “Tirana today is no longer just a stage but a catalyst; it is no longer just a location, but a collaborator.”

Rama emphasized that “Albania has become a gateway of hope, not just as a slogan but as a lived experience for all international architects, who are coming in numbers that just a few years ago we could not have imagined.”

Rama stated, “The projects developing in Albania are neither local mediocrities nor global clichés; they are vibrant and distinctive because they arise from a deep-rooted fusion, in a world fixated on icons, authorship, and ownership. What quietly unfolds here feels almost subversive — something collaboratively created, yet unlike anything seen before — and this is precisely what the festival aims to highlight. Most importantly, it boldly builds on what is genuinely shared, not merely on memory or something else, but as a creative act. This spirit is beautifully reflected in the invited members of the architectural community.”

According to him, “architecture can be the clearest example of this, and these guests are valuable precisely because they bring something not technical, but emotional, intuitive, and cultural.”

He said, “They bring stories, contradictions, questions; they bring a kind of understanding that professional spaces often forget, and by doing so, they complete the picture. This festival is not about architecture as a profession, but about architecture as the closest human act, the closest connection to the divine. To create spaces where truth can grow and protect itself, where our ancient need to belong, to connect, and to leave a mark becomes something we all share. If what is truly common does not start with tools and certainties, but with the courage to let others in and the courage to change, then this festival, beginning today, is exactly the right thing in the right place,” he added.

Rama stated that we live in a world beset by overlapping crises—both natural and human-made—where the concept of “us” is challenged, dialogue gets lost in noise, and fear dominates politics; where success is judged by rank instead of connection, and personal ambition frequently neglects the duty owed to the collective.

He continued, “Thus, this gathering is not merely a celebration of architecture, but a form of architecture itself—a human construct built upon the fragile ruins of what we have inherited, on the dreams we still hope to realize, an invitation to remember and to create.”

“To remember what it means to have something in common, whether in trauma or aspiration, and to create what is still missing and what is most urgent—to remember to share it. Just as the ancient builders constructed temples not only to shelter the gods but to hold communities together and welcome distant friends, or how, upon the ruins of wars, they built not only houses but also hopes,” Rama said.

The Prime Minister went on saying that “this is what is expected of us—to build not stone monuments, but meaningful spaces; not concrete structures, but pillars of understanding.”

“That’s why it’s profoundly significant that leading architects from Europe, the United States, China, and South Korea have chosen to come to Albania—not as isolated stars shining over a foreign land, but as collaborators in a collective experiment, building not merely in a place, but with the place itself. They bring the grace of their traditions, ideas shaped by their own urban environments, diverse materials, and the burdens of crises—crises at home, in their countries, and in a world where time seems to shrink by the hour, crises that are human-made,” Rama said.

But, he continued, “here in Albania something quite special happens — they are not just received, but truly welcomed and integrated.”

“They are integrated by a country and a people whose landscape is as diverse as its past, where human patterns are difficult to trace,” the Prime Minister said. “Perhaps it’s precisely because of this unpredictability—because there is no fixed routine, no certainty—that the past is tragic and the future daring. Experience here remains porous, open enough to be shared. And in this meeting, what they bring and what they find come together to form something neither born here nor brought from elsewhere, but something in between—a synthesis, a dialogue not just in concrete or light, but in flesh and blood. Not a collection of styles, but a community of intentions, narratives, visions, and vulnerabilities.”

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