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Eco Park Durres is a 144,000 m² public park in Durrës, Albania, designed by Casanova + Hernandez Architects on the site of a former open landfill. Its first phase closes and reshapes the waste mound into walkable hills, caps the contaminated material, and adds paths, sport facilities, a climbing wall and environmental-education spaces. The project is both a remediation strategy and a new civic landscape.
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The architects describe the park as a phased intervention. Some facilities are realized in the first phase, while playgrounds, zip-lines, picnic areas, additional pavilions and expanded planting are identified as later work in the project account. The sources reviewed do not establish current opening hours, visitor numbers or whether every later amenity has been completed.
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Eco Park Durres is a landfill-to-park project in Durrës, Albania. Casanova + Hernandez Architects designed it as an integrated environmental, recreational, social and educational intervention rather than as a conventional greenfield park. BIG SEE and ArchDaily list the project area as 144,000 m², and both identify 2023 as the project year or completion year. The area is a project-listed figure, not an independently surveyed measurement.
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| Project detail | What the published project records state |
|---|---|
| Location | Durrës (Durres), Albania |
| Listed area | 144,000 m² |
| Architects | Casanova + Hernandez Architects |
| Lead designers | Jesus Hernandez and Helena Casanova |
| Project year | 2023 |
| Primary purpose | Close a former open landfill and create public recreation and environmental-education space |
The architects state that “The primary function of the project was to solve an environmental emergency problem.” That sentence appears in their project description reproduced by ArchDaily on June 21, 2024. It explains why the park’s landscape form, drainage strategy and educational programming are inseparable: the public space is built around the work of making a dangerous, neglected site safer and usable.
Why the former landfill required a different kind of park design
Conditions reported by the project team
The architects’ account says the site had been used for years as an open landfill, with solid waste stored without protective systems. It reports several connected problems:
- Leachate from the waste was associated with soil pollution.
- Frequent fires, reportedly set to burn plastic and organic waste while recovering steel, created air-pollution concerns.
- Waste spread into nearby water channels.
- Organic material from the waste was fed to animals, which the project description links to food pollution.
These are conditions reported in the design team’s project description, not a published set of independent soil, water or air-monitoring results. The distinction matters: the park’s design response can be described precisely, while its long-term environmental performance cannot be quantified from the available project records.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchTurning waste into landform
Instead of removing every tonne of material, the first-phase strategy reshapes and compacts the landfill into artificial hills. The waste itself becomes the main landscape material and is organized into a topography that can support paths, planting and recreation. This approach reduces the exposed, irregular surface of an open dump and gives the site a legible public form.
The project description says the hills are sealed with a geomembrane and a final clay layer before planting. The cap is the critical separation between the reshaped waste and the public landscape above it. Vegetation, drainage and circulation are then layered over that containment system, allowing visitors to walk across the hills without treating the underlying waste as ordinary soil.
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The “cleaning machine” claim
Casanova + Hernandez describe the finished landscape as a “cleaning machine” that extracts leachate and eliminates methane gases. This is the architects’ characterization of the system’s intended environmental function. The sources reviewed do not provide monitoring data, methane measurements, leachate volumes, remediation certificates or a post-completion environmental audit. Readers should therefore treat the phrase as a design-performance description, not as a quantified outcome.
What visitors can see and do
Eco Pavilion at the entrance
The entrance Eco Pavilion combines park-support facilities with a permanent exhibition. Its purpose is not simply orientation; the exhibition is intended to explain ecological issues and encourage environmental awareness among visitors and schools. That educational role gives the park a civic function beyond leisure, particularly for a site whose previous use was difficult for residents to access or understand.
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Walkable hills and winding paths
Winding paths make the capped hills accessible as a sequence of slopes, overlooks and routes rather than as a fenced remediation zone. The landform lets visitors experience the scale of the former dump while keeping the waste isolated beneath the geomembrane and clay cap. Planting softens the engineered profile and establishes a recognizable park character over time.
Climbing wall and sports areas
The largest hill incorporates a climbing wall. The architects’ description calls it the highest climbing wall in the Balkans; that is a project-description claim, and the reviewed sources do not independently verify the regional comparison. The wall uses waterproof GRP panels mounted on a galvanized-steel structure. A curved reinforced-concrete supporting wall is described as 30 metres high.
The first realized phase also includes core sports facilities. The available records do not provide operating schedules, route grades, equipment-rental information, supervision rules or admission fees, so visitors should confirm those practical details with the local operator before planning a climbing session.
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Environmental learning through movement
The park’s program deliberately combines physical activity with ecological interpretation. A visitor can move from the entrance exhibition to a hill path, a sports area and the climbing structure without leaving the remediation landscape. The design uses recreation to keep the former landfill visible as a subject for learning rather than erasing its history behind ornamental planting.
Construction materials and technical elements
The project account identifies a small set of materials that perform distinct roles in the conversion from dump to park.
| Element | Material or construction described | Role in the project |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial hills | Waste from the former landfill, reshaped and compacted | Creates the park’s primary topography while consolidating the dump |
| Landfill cap | Geomembrane with a final clay layer beneath planting | Separates waste from the public landscape and supports containment |
| Climbing wall surface | Waterproof GRP panels | Provides the climbing face in an outdoor environment |
| Climbing-wall support | Galvanized-steel structure | Supports the GRP panels and climbing geometry |
| Hill retaining structure | Curved reinforced-concrete wall, stated as 30 metres high | Supports the largest hill and climbing-wall zone |
| Pavilion exteriors | Galvanized-steel gabions filled with recycled materials | Creates durable, visibly recycled enclosure elements |
The material palette communicates the project’s central idea: waste is not hidden as an abstract problem but reorganized into a controlled landform, while recycled and industrial materials remain legible in the public architecture.
What was built first, and what remains phased work?
Phasing is essential to understanding Eco Park Durres. Planur-e’s architect-authored account distinguishes the first realized phase from interventions described for coming years. The project should not be presented as though every feature in the long-term vision was already delivered in 2023.
| Status in the project accounts | Elements identified |
|---|---|
| First realized phase | Closure of the former landfill; reshaped waste hills; core park circulation; climbing wall; sports facilities; entrance Eco Pavilion and its exhibition |
| Planned in the project account for coming years | Playgrounds; zip-lines; picnic areas; additional pavilions; planting of different species and other landscape interventions |
| Long-term thematic network | Nine thematic eco-pavilions are described as planned; the sources do not establish that all nine are complete |
ArchDaily’s project description presents a network of nine thematic eco-pavilions addressing environmental problems in Albania. Planur-e likewise describes additional pavilions among future work. Because current completion status is not established in the reviewed sources, “nine pavilions” should be read as the planned network, not a confirmed count of open buildings.
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The design concept: a Roman mosaic as a transformation metaphor
The architects say the design is inspired by the Roman mosaic “The Beauty of Durres.” Their exact explanation is that the mosaic “serves as a metaphor for the transformation of a polluted site with negative connotations into a public space for recreation and environmental education.” This is a conceptual reference supplied by the designers, not a claim that the park reproduces the mosaic as a literal pattern.
The reference connects a locally recognizable cultural artifact with a difficult contemporary site. In practical terms, the project translates that idea into a sequence: contain the waste, reshape the ground, add living systems, invite public use and explain the environmental history. The cultural story therefore reinforces the remediation strategy rather than functioning as separate decoration.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Who designed Eco Park Durres?
Casanova + Hernandez Architects are credited as the project’s architects. BLT Awards lists Jesus Hernandez and Helena Casanova as lead designers. The project has received several forms of recognition:
| Recognition or listing | Information published |
|---|---|
| BLT Awards, 2024 | Winner in Landscape Architecture – Large-Scale Landscape Project |
| BIG SEE, 2024 | Architecture Award winner in Public / open space and landscape |
| ArchDaily Building of the Year 2025 listing | Included in Public & Landscape Architecture; the listing notes that voting closed |
ArchDaily’s 2025 award listing names Walltopia as manufacturer and AVE Consulting as structural engineering firm. Those are project-team credits, not evidence of a consumer product range or of a commercial partnership for visitors.
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How to assess the project’s environmental success
Eco Park Durres demonstrates a clear design logic, but the available public documentation is stronger on intent and construction than on measured outcomes. A careful assessment should separate four questions:
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- Was the landfill physically closed? The first-phase accounts say the former landfill was closed and capped.
- How was public contact with waste reduced? The described geomembrane, clay layer, compaction and planted surface are the stated containment measures.
- Did pollution indicators improve? The reviewed sources do not publish before-and-after soil, water, air or methane data.
- Are all planned public amenities operating? Current completion and access conditions for later-phase features are not established.
This evidence boundary does not diminish the project’s architectural importance. It identifies what can responsibly be said: the park converts a former open dump into a designed public landscape and embeds environmental education in that conversion, while quantified ecological performance would require monitoring records not included in the published project accounts.
What a visitor should check before going
The design records explain the spatial program but do not provide current opening hours, ticket prices, booking procedures, accessibility details, public-transport directions or safety rules for the climbing wall. Those conditions can change as later phases are delivered. Before visiting, verify:
- Which entrances and facilities are open on the intended date.
- Whether the climbing wall requires advance booking, a guide or specific equipment.
- Whether the Eco Pavilion exhibition and school programs are operating.
- Which playgrounds, zip-lines, picnic areas and pavilions have actually been completed.
- Any weather, heat, surface or restricted-area guidance associated with walking on capped landfill hills.
Visitors should follow marked paths and staff instructions. A capped landfill is an engineered surface, not an invitation to dig, plant independently or enter service areas.
Why the project matters beyond Durrës
Eco Park Durres offers a useful model for cities facing derelict dumps: remediation can be planned together with public access instead of treating the two as unrelated stages. Its hills provide a visible record of the site’s former use; the exhibition and planned thematic pavilions provide interpretation; sports and paths create reasons for repeated visits. The approach also acknowledges that a large contaminated site may need to be delivered incrementally, with a safe first phase followed by additional amenities.
For a meaningful comparison with another landfill-to-park project, use the same criteria each time: the containment and remediation strategy; who can access the site and how; the quality of educational programming; which amenities were actually delivered in each phase; the relationship between landform and local culture; and the availability of environmental monitoring data. Eco Park Durres is distinctive in combining all six ambitions, but the published material does not establish comparative superiority over a defined group of other projects.
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