heritage Artist’s impression of the new installations at the old St Bernard’s Hospital in the Upper Town area
Carl Viagas:
A Heritage Visionary Much has been done over the past years to restore Gibraltar’s architectural heritage, but there’s much more in the pipeline. And for Carl Viagas there are exiting times ahead as he explained to us.
Carl graduated in Architecture in the UK in 1991 and on his return to Gibraltar took a position with the company, which amongst other significant projects, won the contract for the Main Street beautifications, now coming to an end in the Southport Gates area. Carl’s success in being part of a team to manage the project helped him take the position of Heritage Conservation Officer — a position with little job description other than to advise government on details, such as shutter types, and heritage technical issues of projects already underway. Carl humbly insists he only does his job and the credit for the results should always go to the client. “But I must admit, I get a real kick out of handing over a successful project!” he emphasises. Carl already had an extremely clear vision for Gibraltar’s architecture when he took the position, which he has never wavered from since. Over the last ten years he has used his creativity and charisma to assist with projects and ideas, which are now a delight for the community and visitors alike.
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The redevelopment of King’s Bastion is probably the most prominent project to date due to its size, complexity and the way the structure breaks from the traditional mould by constructing the modern alongside the historic. “With The King’s Bastion Leisure Centre it was a privilege to work for a Government with whom I share the same philosophy in terms of architectural design and attention to detail, my
Plans for the upper town include street refurbishment, similar to works carried out to Main Street, and also building façade decoration with inspiration coming from Italian village earthy colours mixed with colonial-style
only role was to provide some support. “I don’t believe in constructing new buildings which follow the historical line. Yes, we need to conserve and renovate Gibraltar’s historical sites, but what we create now will be Gibraltar’s heritage in the years to come. We need be able to look back on these projects in the future and be proud of how Gibraltar has developed, not just socially, politically and economically, but architecturally too,” explained Carl, with his ever present enthusiasm. The first time this concept was taken on board in Gibraltar was in the Naval Hospital extension. Although there were some ideas of building the extension to the same design as the original building, the new section would always look like an extension added many years later and it would be near impossible for the two structures together to look architecturally whole. As a result, a modern extension was designed with striking result (see photo). A few months later Government endorsed the projects for the Orange Bastion, a simple and
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • FEBRUARY 2009
22/1/09 09:55:46