Barbajean has been designed to celebrate the joy and tradition of eating and drinking – an activity that unites friends, family and communities and that has been inextricably linked with architecture for centuries. Mizzi Studio’s team embraced the brief for Barbajean as a context driven conversion project, drawing influence from the colours, materials and traditions of its village home. Dingli remains one of Malta’s most beloved belvedere destinations, with uninterrupted sea views over the Mediterranean Sea and the islet of Filfla. The team was keen to create a new destination for the village – a recreational landmark that would celebrate its environment whilst injecting it with new life.
Malta’s location at the midpoint of the Mediterranean has made the island a centre of trade and tourism. Welcoming almost 2.5 million international tourists last year with the number of visitors growing by almost 10% annually, Malta’s hospitality industry employs 30% of the country’s workforce and is anticipated to grow to 40% of the island’s employment over the coming decade.
Located on Malta’s East coast, Paceville has developed over the past 50 years as the island’s tourist and entertainment centre, accommodating new projects that address this continued growth.
Established as a cluster of holiday homes in the early 20th Century and developed into a major tourist hub from the 1960’s, Paceville is at the heart of St Julian’s in Malta where many of the island’s restaurants, bars, nightclubs, casinos and marina are located, together with international hotels including the Hilton, Le Meridien, InterContinental and Westin.
A site bounded by other dwellings necessitated a villa concept designed with privacy in mind.
Angular, modernist geometry interprets the sense of protection given by a castle; monumental from the outside, but opening up into private internal courtyards and light-filled living spaces once within.
Marsamxetto Harbour will site a new, sea-front hotel, integrating a contemporary building with a 16th century period house; believed to have been occupied by Valletta’s renowned artist Mattia Preti.
The site for a new shoe shop in Valletta, presented a very limited volume – one 3x7m room with an underlying basement – which provided the most significant challenge. From the early sketches, we adopted a vertical approach rather than a horizontal one, and the volume was fragmented into one giant staircase which would combine display, seating, storage and all services into one. We imagined clients walking up, down and around the stairs, choosing their favourite shoes and actually sitting next to them to try them on, rather than looking at the merchandise through a glass. The experience of being surrounded by the products, together with the constantly changing vistas while exploring the shop enhances both the shopper and the shopped in a surreal, stepped space reminiscent of Japanese shoe-box architecture adorned by traditional Maltese textures; wrought iron railings, the Maltese eight-pointed cross, traditional lace.
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