Philippe PROST / AAPP (France)

Travel through Time and Space

The masterplan is an invitation to explore this Homeric landscape in search of archaeological and military traces, and to discover an agricultural and pastoral landscape. The project seeks to create a dialogue with the site’s genius loci through the design of architecture and its insertion in the landscape, and through the renewed use of traditional forms and bio-based materials.

The design combines a topographical approach for the architecture as a landmark with an environmental renaturing approach to the landscape. Buildings are designed as interpretive devices. The elliptical visitor center serves as a geographical orientation device, allowing for an understanding of the surrounding landscape. A chronological frieze runs along the curved glass facade, in order to explain the layered history of the site. The new gate to the archaeological site will extend and reveal the traces of the western defensive wall. Tomorrow, the Butrint National Park will be a real territory of investigation on man and his history in the Mediterranean area.