Architecture & Design

Architecture & Design | 9 Dar il-Hanin Samaritan meditaion garden. Photo credit Daniel Cilia met on the train eventually visited Malta to work with us, bringing with them their diverse cultural backgrounds and the different design methods of their schools, and creating the international vibe that AP Valletta is known for today. Above all, many of these young architects remained on the island and contributed in more ways than one to the thriving of architecture in Malta. IN 2021, AP WON TWO DIN L-ART HELWA AWARDS FOR MALTESE HERITAGE AND WAS ALSO SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRESTIGIOUS EUROPEAN ILUCIDARE SPECIAL PRIZE. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU? TELL US MORE. It is always very encouraging to receive recognition and the confirmation that your work is not only valid but valuable too. Awards such as these also provide confidence in the choices you make and in the new directions your research may be taking. We also value immensely the critical appraisal of the jury that gives an outsider, albeit expert, view of the qualities of the project in question. The Illucidare Award, for example, stated that the work of AP Valletta ''is rooted in the theoretical principle that heritage is not static but rather in constant evolution. The firm has made Valletta into their living lab for testing new heritage ideas." This is quite a perceptive comment because, indeed, rather than always choosing methods that are tried and tested, when we strongly feel that they are more valid for the issue at hand, we always push for the testing of new ideas of conservation that are not necessarily orthodox. This appreciation of the international jury gives us the courage to continue in this direction of research. TO YOU, WHAT MAKES A 'GOOD DESIGN'? The qualities that make a 'good design' are always changing and totally ineffable and are influenced by the architectural philosophy of the moment and the building and drawing technologies that express it. I am a great fan of John Ruskin, the most eminent Victorian architectural critic, who associated architecture with the qualities of an individual person. In the light of Ruskin's enormous influence on my architectural thinking, 'good design' is, for me, honest. It should be of it's time, neither anachronistic nor trying to break new ground at all cost, respectful of its cultural, social and physical context, and should combine all the requirements of a project, the brief, budgetary constraints, climate considerations, materiality and form, with integrity. WHO DO YOU ADMIRE AND WHY? I admire Hadrian. He was the Emperor, the top man of the known world. He was a Humanist and an ardent admirer of Greece, a soldier, a philosopher and a poet. He led the Empire when it was at its largest extent, he never shied away from sitting with the people he governed and from learning from them, he founded cities and restored the great buildings he inherited from the past, the Pantheon " The Illucidare Award, for example, stated that the work of APValletta ''is rooted in the theoretical principle that heritage is not static but rather in constant evolution. The firm has made Valletta into their living lab for testing new heritage ideas" "

• Cover