ARCHITEC TURE
10 · MONE Y
ISSUE 53
Dayna is a senior speech therapist by day and feature writer by night. When she’s not busy fixing words, she is travelling the world to add to her fridge magnet collection.
VALLETTA’S EYE IN THE SKY Whether we like it or not, architecture affects us. It narrates our day and is “much more than a space, setting or form”. Dayna Clarke catches up with Konrad Buhagiar, founding partner of architectural firm AP Valletta. With an impressive back catalogue and no shortage of incredible projects in the pipeline for the local skyline and beyond, the team behind AP Valletta gives us a brief on its work. So how did AP Valletta start? To start with, my partners and I were all born during the Cold War. We were brought up reading spy novels and stories about the search for a better life. We wanted to create a better society by providing it with a richer more beautiful architecture. We considered this goal to be one of the most essential tools to achieve a better society. The first name “Architecture Project” was a manifesto in the Modernist tradition declaring the urgent need for a project to lift Maltese architecture out of the doldrums. But Modernism was on its last legs, and, the isolation of the island has disappeared, the awareness of architecture began to flourish again, hopefully, as well, thanks to our contribution.
