Anglu Farrugia is to review Renzo Piano’s plans and designs for Parliament House
Please, don’t all yell together ‘Kill me now’, because the sound would be deafening.
I somehow don’t think this is what the smarter people had in mind when they were tricked into thinking that Labour is cool, contemporary and progressive.
It is deeply offensive on so many levels that it is hard to know where to begin. But let’s console ourselves with the fact that where human behaviour is concerned, there is nothing new under the sun.
There are parallels throughout history in which the first acts of incoming pitchfork-peasant-mentality powers include the destruction, decimation or downgrading of art and architecture by placing a pitchfork-peasant-mentality decision-maker or emissary at the same or a superior level to a great creator.
In another life and time, they’d have set fire to the great library of Alexandria to make way for a racetrack for The People.
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http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-04-19/news/government-in-talks-with-piano-about-new-parliament-building-1422491649/
Mhux “he will rise to the occasion, hux?”
Supermarkets are running out of self-raising flour.
Hares leja Renzo.
With the construction of the new parliament house approaching an advanced stage, what sort of alterations, pray tell, could they possibly have in mind?
I’m no architect, but I think it’s safe to assume that any changes made in this phase of the project would cost us rather dearly.
Would a complete evaluation of the costs be too much to ask for?
Though cost is important, it’s the bastardisation of the project that’s bothering me more than anything. It’s similar to me, who can hardly draw a caricature of a coffee cup, chiding Rembrandt that one of his self-portraits is all wrong and advising him how he can do it better.
Please dont tell us that he has an architect’s warrant and no one knew about it.
There is always something or someone to keep us amused and impressed on this island.
On d record
Architect with a summa cum laude, maybe?
My feeling is that the building planned to house the parliament will actually not house the parliament.
From the info I have about other matters, it looks like Muscat promised things to people before the election, obviously not made public, which now have to be carried out.
My feeling is that Kenneth Zammit Tabona was promised that he’ll have his contemporary gallery/museum and that the mentioned building was earmarked for such a purpose.
We have already had some subtle and not so subtle messages that the building is not adequate to house the parliament.
The building is more than adequately sized for parliamentary meetings. Muscat’s issue is with the number of offices available to his oversized cabinet.
Of course, what you say about the museum is probably true too.
But if the building is to serve as a museum, this is exactly why the building should be kept as a Parliament.
With Members of Parliament like Joe Debono Grech, Edward Scicluna, Karmenu Vella and George Vella, it’s role as a history museum is guaranteed for the next five years.
Qua est Kenneth?
He’s busy preparing for V18 with Jason.
“But let’s console ourselves with the fact that where human behaviour is concerned, there is nothing new under the sun.”
You should have watched our President on TVM defending himself for reading the much discussed speech at the opening of parliament.
He certainly was wearing his lawyer’s hat and not that of the President. He told us that no president had ever changed the ‘substance’ of the speech. We never talked about policies and ‘substance’ but about the wording and the tone of the speech.
He tried to put the cliche’ ‘futur fis-sod’ on a par with ‘klikkek’ and ‘arroganza’. How would he have translated an economically sound future in Maltese?
If he sees no difference beteeen the 2008 speech and that of 2013, then there is nothing more to say.
So why does he need to defend himself, slippery slope indeed.
I liked the fact that he was in defensive mode. This shows that the criticism by the public who was offended by the President’s speech (whoever wrote it – he read it) has reached the Palace.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130419/local/President-proposes-Constitutional-referendum.466154
“Dr Abela also said the parties should decide the process by which such changes could be concluded and he would personally be pushing the idea of a referendum so that people could have their say.”
@ Gorg Abela : “you lied about the speech from the throne, you embraced each and every word you read in that speech, because you knew beforehand the contents of that speech.
Now to add insult to injury you are in cahoots with Franco Debono and Joseph Muscat about a popular vote for the constitutional reforms.
The constitution is not a matter for “the people” to discuss. This is “Xarabankesque” logic that anyone who is able to present himself on a discussion program has a right for an opinion on any subject underneath the sun”.
People in Malta are hardly able to differentiate between the powers of the Police, the Government and the Courts (to put it in the popular jargon), let alone asking some bloke who gave the number one to Parnis, about the checks and balances which are in our constitution!
Warrab !
If you do not believe in the will of the people, then we should bin our democracy and adopt another model, eg the Chinese model. Unfortunately we would have to leave the EU and the Council of Europe. Maybe we can join a future Chinese union.
So, why exactly do we have members of parliament in the first place if we have to decide everything ourselves? In a democracy we choose people who we trust will make the right decisions for us all on matters where we might have little to no expertise.
Would you rather have one of the Snobby girls deciding on the finer clauses of the constitution rather than one of the candidates you elected? Although in your case, there might not be much difference to speak of.
Does the President mean that he will be ‘campaigning’ for a referendum?
Constitutional reforms/changes need a two thirds majority while a referendum needs a simple majority. X’tahseb Gahan?
First Sant f**ked up Mater Dei when his government changed plans and turned it into a general hospital, with results for all to see. Now it’s parliament building turn for a f**k up. Labour won’t work.
Why wasn’t Frankie Tabone consulted about this important constitutional matter?
And why isn’t Kenneth Zammit Tabona in the delegation so that we can have a theatre with a roof?
We are really trying Piano’s patience.
Labour will be known for landing Malta with a bastardized Piano project that Piano was compelled to pull out of. A worthy successor to the grotesque fascist city entrance that the PN had set up after unnecessarily demolishing Kingsgate and a blasting away huge swathes of the bedrock and buildings on both sides of the city entrance.
Now it is all hands on deck to demolish the Constitution of Malta so as to, as Dr. Emmy Bezzina put it, naghtuha bazi Maltija u mhux kolonjali kif giet imposta mill-Inglizi.
I suppose Anglu Farrugia will go to Rome to “consult” with renzo Piano and “explain” to him why Muscat and his gang will be changing the plans; Farrugia, I am sure, will take Zammit Tabona with him – what a shambles.
Renzo Piano’s studio is in Paris.
That is why Anglu Farrugia & Co are going to Rome.
Mawra sa Parigi biex niltaqghu ma “Enzo Prano” u naghmlu kollox on di rekort.
He has one in Rome that blends elegantly with the surroundings.
I do not see why government buildings within 50/100 metres of the new parliament building are not refurbished to house everybody; this is done at Westminster with various annexes.
Will the Palace have enough office space to house the maxi-Cabinet and all the hangers-on?
But if the new Parliament building has been promised to Kenneth Zammit Tabona or whoever, il-konsultazzioniet ma’ Renzo Piano huma kollha bzar f’ghajnejn il-poplu. Other cities dream of having at least one building designed by Piano whilst we ask him biex ibazzwar to accomodate our pseudo-intellectuals.
Whatever happened to that Polish man and the art collection he had promised Malta?
Kenneth wants his palace on top of the car park outside the city.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Palace_Of_Soviets_1.JPG
Our foremost watercolourist. His definition.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-04-20/news/speaker-to-lead-delegation-in-cyprus-1427832832/
‘…enhancing democracy and human rights…’
Just the right person from the right country.
What are Anglu Farrugia’s credentials for such a speech, if I may ask.
No problem, no one will understand one word of what he’s saying.
Anglu Farrugia’s qualified to speak about human rights (abuses).
http://www.scribd.com/doc/132977328/Anglu-Farrugia-Admits-to-Illegal-Arrest-of-a-Newspaper-Editor-Times-21JUL1981
Anglu Farrugia is qualified to deliver ‘ferocious speeches.’
Become Speaker of the House and see the world.
These are the same people who protested they shouldn’t leg it to the palace when St.George’s square was pedestrianised.
These are also the same people who defaced the infermeria, making it an object of impossible deadlines.
When style is the way of doing, theirs is the distortion of familiar convention to adapt it to one’s misgivings.
This is another chapter of Labour’s objective spiritual inferiority inflicted on us.
There must be a link between the degeneration in order, proportion and harmony we’ve surrounded ourselves with and their bile.
Maybe he should appoint a Tuks Fors.
Eet must hev more spyralls.
Lajk di empire station?
This is nothing new.
The windows and doors of the Auberge de Castille were painted a bright blue.
Also the sixteenth century Valletta bastions were breached and defaced permanently to construct a ramp leading to the MCC.
The Sacra Infermeria, a building of immense historical and architectural importance was ruined for evermore.
The Palace Armoury was also partially defaced but may possibly be retrievable.
Now we are about to see an semiliterate person reviewing the opus of one of the greatest architects of the twentieth century.
All this is acceptable because it is committed by Labour.
U msieken mohhom sa hemm jasal.
If I remember well the doors and windows were painted red.
Also painted MMU blue.
Red, then blue.
Absolutely ludicrous. An ignoramous plays Piano.
I think I have found a design which will satisfy our Anglu, our baroque Kenneth, and the Xarabank crowd tas-salotti homor miksija bil-plastic.
http://dessylovetravelling.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/two-elephant-statues-the-phra-thinang-chakri-maha-prasat-the-grand-palace-bangkok-thailand.jpg
Baxxter, that’s brilliant. Piano can surely implement this. Actually, what he should do is to provide for a parking space in front of the building where Anglu can park his elephant.
I also made sure my proposed design would satisfy Lolita Pusang, or should that be Mrs Speaker?
Perfect. with the addition of a reclining buddha, Kenneth, perched between the two pachyderms.
No smarter people were tricked into voting Labour. It certainly was not the smart thing to do.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Government-sources-deny-Jason-Micallef-s-appointment-to-V18-board-20130420
Imagine the bitching. We’ll have indoor plants all over the place.
Il-pjanti iridu d-demel.
Has anyone bothered asking David Felice if he knows he’s going to be replaced?
Renzo Piano must be regretting the moment he accepted to work on this project – little he did know the idiocy he will be dealing with, the pettiness, and the exasperation.
Malta will be blacklisted among his peers in the future. It’s like dealing with the Taliban when they were trying to deface the UNESCO historic statues. It is a wasted effort to discuss anything with people who are intellectually limited.
Absolutly ridiculous – suddenly everyone is an expert architect and museum curator.
jekk ……. 9 xhur ohra ha jkollna bini ta’parlament zghir.
And if that’s not enough, Jason Micallef is tipped for a ‘cultural’ position, with Valletta 2018.
Hail the Age of Ignorance!
“Renzo Piano’s architecture reflects that rare melding of art, architecture, and engineering in a truly remarkable synthesis, making his intellectual curiosity and problem-solving techniques as broad and far ranging as those masters of his native land, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo”
This is just the introductory report of the eight member jury, when Renzo Piano was awarded one of his numerous prestigious awards, the International Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1998.
Hail the Age of Destruction!
And some rare brain thinks otherwise and throws concept and engineering out of the window as if changing a ‘girna’ into an ‘ghorfa’. There is no ‘ordinary’ man on the other side of the question. The internationally renowned architect is now being approached to ‘advise’ him for the umpteenth time to change ‘id-direzzjoni’ (so faithful to the PL electoral slogan).
In an island where builders are often considered as ‘periti’ by the naif, where naif thinkers will see themselves as philosophers and naif amateurs pretend to be cultural intellectuals, it will never be the age of reason.
Hail the Age of Mediocrity
Whoever thinks that a building designed to house a modest Parliament can be transformed into a Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art must have gross space miscalculations. Such museums today require enormous spaces and halls to house large installations and works of art of enormous sizes while the structural aspect is considered to take heavy three-dimensional works. A contemporary museum is not a salon, but a huge breathing space that changes constantly its physiognomy to house, accomodate and update the very very latest artistic representations
Ara Piano fejn kif jaf li josephmuscat.com kien se jaghmel l-akbar kabinett fl-istorja ta’ Malta.
Heq insejt li Abela qed jissemma li se jsir Leader of the House. Allura dak ikun irid kamra ghalih .
“A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.”
Any changes to a building nearing completion will involve enormous expenses. This will make the contractors happy.
The architects will also require additional fees to change previously approved designs.
However, the bigger tragedy is that the design of an iconic building will be compromised.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonanulla Simoni Farrugia commonly known as Anglu, is a member of the OSCE, so much so he was shot for being it. Although he survived, some say he still finds it difficult to retain liquids.
Anglu now intends to have a shot at reviewing Piano’s designs for Parliament House little knowing there are but a few more upright or grand than him. Piano that is.
Perhaps he’s going to try to persuade him to build many more floors, like the ‘Empire Station’?
Ara Anglu anqas il-kuzakk ma jaf jaqfel, ahseb u ara kemm ha jimpressjona lil Renzo Piano.
Mulej ahfrilhom, ghax ma jafux x’inhuma jaghmlu.
Fuck that. A merciful God would not allow the level of stupidity required to vote Labour, to exist.
Well, Piano has been described by Astrid Vella as a foreigner who does not understand Malta and the Maltese. I’m sure that, after meeting Anglu Farrugia, he will begin to understand.
Haha, good one. And incorporate some “balavostri tal-kewba” in the staircases’ design.
This is exactly what went wrong. Piano was misled.
Piano met with a group of Maltese before accepting the brief amongst whom Richard England, the late Father Peter and others of their ilk.
Had he met a more representative cross-section of the population instead he would have asked to be allowed to design a zoo.
Zoo, parliament, what’s the difference?
That had to be the most insolent argument ever made. Lilliput never had a better representative.
To think Piano was criticised for being too playful, verging on the hedonistic with his algorithms for the parliament’s facades. Guess what, that’s typically ‘Maltese’.
Doesn’t understand the Maltese, due his ‘foreign’ perspective eh? Renders me and thousands of others redundant.
Reality is outside these shores, contamination vital, just imagine if the knights opted for Sardinia and Caravaggio found refuge elsewhere.
Imagine if the Moors didn’t make it to Spain or Pasquale Rossetti didn’t emigrate to London. Honestly, she’s out of her depth and vicious in her superbia.
How about this for a “point of reference”?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130420/local/-Point-of-reference-is-giving-orders-at-Mepa.466278
Michael Farrugia is the cherry on top of the cake for MEPA.
Anglu Farrugia doesn’t learn. We still remember how Joseph Muscat pushed Anglu to table a vote of no confidence in Lawrence Gonzi with no success. Now Joseph Muscat is doing the same thing with the design for Parliament House.
It’s this sort of story that makes me feel ashamed to be Maltese. A hundred years from now and our descendents will curse him and the one who nominated him.
Renzo Piano has already cancelled a hundred commissions lest this Philistine would be around to review the designs.
Can anyone tell me what the fuck has been done in the first month of a Labour government, please? Nothing new under the sun. Only nominations. I guess our GDP has gone down in a big way.