Architecture & Design

Architecture & Design | 9 Dar il-Hanin Samaritan meditaion garden. Photo credit Daniel Cilia " The real problem is that contemporary building does not reflect an aspiration to power, to prestige, to civi pride, to beauty, or to whatever was the motivation for building in the past - but simply reflects greed, the greed that leads to buildings which are out of scale with their context, and which occupy all open spaces, because land is measured solely in terms of the possible return from development " philosophy. My role has also been to select members of staff who could understand this vision, and who could continue to evolve the Faculty. I think that the Faculty of 2022 is completely different from that of 2008, and it will continue to change. WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON MODERN BUILDINGS AND HOW DO THEY FIT INTO THE TRADITIONAL MALTESE BUILDING STYLES? This is a bit of a loaded question! Let us first of all address the words "traditional Maltese building style". Our built legacy spans hundreds of years, and included many architectural 'styles' - Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-Classical, Neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau, Modernist as well as Regionalist - many of which styles have 'lived happily' next to each other. Which one of these styles is the traditional Maltese style? These are effectively styles that flourished all over Europe, and are not specifically Maltese. Or does the appellation apply to the vernacular, which is admittedly timeless - and hence arches, xorok, timber closed balconies, 'balavostri'? Then we come to the words 'modern buildings'. If by these words, you refer to the buildings that have characterised the last decade or two, a better term would be 'contemporary building' - but certainly not modern architecture. Indeed, most are not even architecture. And the problem is not that contemporary buildings have abandoned the use of stone masonry - which, admittedly, helped bind together all the styles mentioned before - but adopted concrete. The problem is not concrete. It is too facile to refer to a "concrete jungle", where the term 'concrete' has a disparaging connotation. Indeed, some modernist buildings manage - as did the modern movement elsewhere in the world - to celebrate the use of concrete. Carlo Scarpa comes to mind in this regard. The real problem is that contemporary building does not reflect an aspiration to power, to prestige, to civi pride, to beauty, or to whatever was the motivation for building in the past - but simply reflects greed, the greed that leads to buildings which are out of scale with their context, and which occupy all open spaces, because land is measured solely in terms of the possible return from development. WHAT LED TO YOUR BIGGEST SUCCESS AS AN ARCHITECT? The question presumes that I have been successful as an architect. I am not the person who can judge my success or otherwise. I can only state that I have always strived very hard to give the best service I could to my clients, in my professional work, or to my students and staff, in the Faculty, honestly and

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