New-build apartment complexes in European capitals often follow a sorry script: They tower above surface streets, donning long swaths of windows and black steel trim on the outside. Inside, they’re crisp and clean with white walls, parquet flooring, and so many shades of gray. This aesthetic is trendy, sure, but it can be cold and uninviting. And for business and teamwork consultant Alexandra “Ali” Fraenkel and motivational speaker Mentor Dida, it just wouldn’t do.

“If I had to write a book overnight on one topic, it would be Nookology 101: Making Cozy Corners Where You Feel Like You Could Hang Out All Day,” Ali says with a grin. She’s joining us via Zoom from her parents’ place in Rhinebeck, the small town in upstate New York where she grew up. On our end of the call, Ali’s husband, Mentor, is preparing a tea service in their penthouse in Prishtina, Kosovo.

Mentor passes tea glasses to Njomza Havolli and Fitore Syla, the couple’s close friends and cofounders of architecture and interiors firm Muza. As the designers recline on an olive green couch in the central living space, their seats face the kitchen, where the cabinetry is color matched to the blue in the backsplash’s bold blue-and-white handmade tiles.

To their left, a lopsided, cased opening frames a view into the adjoining sitting room like a natural arch; to their right is Ali’s reading nook. The room is awash in natural light and smells of fresh-cut lumber, cinnamon, and flia, a traditional crepe pie that Mentor serves with cheeses, roasted pepper paste, and cured meats. It does feel as if you could hang out here all day.

For Ali and Mentor, that’s the point: The couple enjoy hosting large, mostly sober get-togethers, and they’re happy to have 20 or more guests milling about their 1,280-square-foot apartment. They fell in love with grand gatherings while sharing Shabbat with Jeremy Levine and Valentina Raman, their housemates in Washington, D.C., where they met in 2016 while Mentor was working there. “Every Friday, Jeremy’s family would invite anybody that they saw,” Mentor remembers. “It became a beautiful ritual.”

“Ali and Mentor wanted their home to be a place for everyone, a community place,” Syla explains. But they wanted it to be bright and colorful, and they wanted a house that felt like both of them: one that mixed Mentor’s heritage as a seventh-generation Albanian in Prishtina with Ali’s more American sensibilities. Muza was up for the challenge.

The couple trusted Havolli and Syla from the start: The duo worked hard to establish their practice in Kosovo as two young women in a field where most of their peers, business partners, and suppliers are men. And while the designers respected the residents’ open-door policy, they knew that playing with privacy would be key to crafting a home fit for hosting and for living.

To that end, they choreographed the foot flow through the penthouse, contrasting open spaces with quieter corners. A narrow entrance hall leads guests to a generous living space that includes both the open kitchen and the living area. Along the way, visitors pass nods to Albanian architectural and cultural traditions: the couple’s tea collection, for example, and shelves and furniture made of timber beams reclaimed from the ceilings of abandoned traditional houses in the region. Even a year after construction was completed, the inviting scent of lumber lingers.

“When you live in a home that you feel embodies your essence, your values, and your energy, it unlocks other possibilities in your life.”
—Ali Fraenkel, resident

As guests fill the space, some may gravitate to more private outcroppings in the apartment, like the dining table. When you sit down, the room feels much more intimate, as your back faces either the enormous windows or the expansive kitchen island. Bursts of color and texture play with the perception of space: Despite its soaring ceiling, the secondary bathroom, its tiles a deep shade of aquamarine, feels compact, while a Creamsicle paint job makes the yoga and meditation room seem endless.

Some of these elements aren’t common in Kosovo, but they bridge that gap between Ali’s and Mentor’s different cultures, welcoming guests no matter where they’re from. It’s a home built to be shared and where the couple believe that everyone could find a comfortable seat. For some, it might be on the terrace overlooking the city and surrounding mountains; for others, around the dining table for a midday feast. And on a busy night with friends new and old, it just might be in a tranquil corner in Ali’s cozy reading nook.

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Muza / @muza_interior

Builders: Pozhegu Brothers

Interior Design: Kolos Interior

Lighting: Adria-7

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In Kosovo’s Capital, a Couple Craft a Haven That Welcomes Grand Gatherings