Architecture & Design | 9
I
n Malta, the question of preservation is no
longer only about keeping buildings intact.
It is about how tradition is carried forward,
how it is used, adapted, and allowed to evolve
without being reduced to surface or memory.
Across the islands, some of the most
meaningful architectural work today engages
directly with this tension. Rather than
treating historic fabric as something to be
frozen, these projects work with it: repairing,
extending, and reinterpreting what already
exists. The result is an approach rooted less in
replication and more in continuity.
Mulberries in Żabbar, by architect Aaron
Abela, sits within this conversation and
appears on this issue's cover. What began as
a neglected rural structure became a slow,
hands-on reconstruction carried out stone
by stone over several years. Abela's process
was guided by direct engagement with the
building itself. "I wanted to understand
every part of it, how it stands, how it works,"
he says. That attitude shaped a project
where making and understanding become
inseparable.
Elsewhere, Dr Alexia Mercieca's work expands
preservation into the social realm, where
architecture supports care, dignity, and
everyday life, as seen in Dar Tereża.
In Valletta, AP Valletta's work at St John's
Co-Cathedral continues the careful
negotiation between heritage and
contemporary use, working with proportion,
light, and material restraint.
Together, these projects suggest a broader
shift: preservation not as fixation, but as
continuation, an ongoing relationship between
past and present, held through building, use,
and time.
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COVER
Mulberries, Zabbar
Design: Aaron Abela
Photo: James Bianchi
