“Hands off…”
This is another piece which Fiona Galea Debono had written for Pink magazine, which she edits, back in May (see previous post for a more recent one). I am reproducing it with her permission.
Though we have been told that there is to be no fidgeting around with the plans (this after Muscat met Renzo Piano in Paris, a meeting for which I am more than glad I wasn’t a fly on the wall), I think it remains a relevant read.
HANDS OFF…
…the City Gate project! And I’m not referring to world-renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, responsible for it, but to those toying with the idea of getting him to tweak, as it were, a design that anyone who knows barely anything about the subject would at least be aware is based on a well-thought-out concept that goes way beyond the amount of square rooms available to house offices.
I am referring to anyone who wants to tarnish one of the best things that has been done for the country – from the aesthetic-cosmetic point of view – over the past years. And I say this with a passion that has led me to argue with strangers in the most inappropriate settings and would find me at the front of a protest march where I have always stuck to the sidelines.
Generally, I go through life just being Maltese. But, sometimes, I get that feeling of being proud to be Maltese. It happened when the previous administration had the good taste, foresight, balls and no-half-measures approach to commission one of the world’s top architects to clean up the sorry state of Freedom Square. This way of doing things is totally up my [Republic] street and hats off to whoever literally left no stone unturned to secure the best man for the job and, in so doing, face the wrath of the armchair critics that infest our country.
For some reason, this way of doing things does not seem to suit everyone. Firstly, we have those who love to criticise for the sake of it. The notion of staying out of areas they just don’t get goes right over the top of their heads and they speak freely from that area where the sun don’t shine.
The vast majority, of course, has no clue what Piano was thinking when he decided to build in an open space; they haven’t bothered to understand and couldn’t if they tried; when they walk past the construction works they don’t take the time to see the perfect lines and heights that are so pleasing and restful to the eye; they don’t delight in observing the way the colour of the hard stone [my new crush] cladding changes to the warmest and most Maltese hues of pink and yellow, depending on the time of day.
They don’t stand at the other end of the eyesore bus terminal and realise that every elevation from afar is just the way it should be; they don’t remember the urine-infested Yellow Garage; they don’t recall the tacky shops under the arcades; they don’t realise their gaze will now be strategically sucked into spaces that lead directly to once hidden bastion walls.
People forget where we are coming from – a shamefully, shabby, unattractive entrance to a stunning city… Anything would have been better, let alone this.
Nonetheless, we, the experts, feel we have the right to bash the work of someone who is revered the world over [really?] for being responsible for a handful of ‘inconspicuous’ buildings that people make sure to put on their itinerary when they are visiting certain cities.
Piano will secure the position of Valletta, which needs no introduction, on the world map. Tourists will not only visit St John’s Co-Cathedral. But hey, who the hell is this guy anyway?
“It’s a matter of taste and opinion,” I’ve been informed by people who choose to knock the project from their worn-out settees because it’s cool to have your say – and better still if it differs from what one would expect to hear. If you say so…
Politicians may not realise that there are citizens out there whose main concern is the environment they live in; who believe in investing money – even €80 million – in embellishment works to be able to walk around their streets and enjoy their surroundings in the same way they would if they were tourists abroad; who do actually expect that attention from their governments and don’t see it as a waste of money, rather a feather in their cap.
I’m very possessive about the City Gate project… and I fear we may proceed to embarrass ourselves by telling the master to start changing his designs in a piecemeal and fragmented fashion. It is tantamount to having the audacity and presumption to tell an artist, who is painting a townscape he envisaged, to suddenly add two more houses and stuff a hooded theatre into the scene – what we call an afterthought, which in my books always remains just that, no matter what.
As someone who is in the throes of doing up an old house, my architect’s vision is the Gospel – and those who know me know I have strong views on these matters.
What I also have is immense respect for people’s profession and area of expertise, and though we all have our own ideas on everything, I happily and serenely bow to their vision and reasoning. I hope some modesty will be exercised in this case too.
It always boils down to good taste – that rare quality, which, by the way, is not that subjective. Not everyone has it. So let’s hope it will prevail.
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I liked this sentence best. It should be written in gold.
“What I also have is immense respect for people’s profession and area of expertise, and though we all have our own ideas on everything, I happily and serenely bow to their vision and reasoning.”
I believe someone has already fidgeted with the plans. Where have the theatre’s translucent screens gone? They were visibly absent in the recent inauguration of the theatre.
I feel they were an integral part of Piano’s vision, acting as a sound screen from the outside while also animating the outside walls of the theatre. My question is who was responsible for this decision?
[Daphne – Thank you for pointing this out, Aldo.]
The garden in the ditch has also disappeared as a “cost cutting exercise”. Not a whisper from the “environmentalists”.
I suspect the real reason was that quite a few parking spaces were going to be lost. I am sure they could have found another 2 million or at least delayed rather than cancelled this part of the project.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130717/local/valletta-ditch-project-shelved.478430
That garden project disappeared because Lara Boffa, the Super One newsroom, and other suckers needed those EUR2 million (and more) to be repaid for providing their services during the election.
It was decided to do without the screens at an early stage in the project due to concerns about the acoustics of the theatre.
I’m not a regular visitor to Valletta but I distinctly remember the translucent screens around the perimeter of the theatre. I now realise that they were part of Piano’s plans for the acoustics as well as the aesthetics of the building.
Can it be somebody considered them an eyesore and took the decision to pull them down? Let’s see whether the culture vultures and critics will demand an explanation.
The theatre is designed to take translucent screens and holograph devises, but these are not permanent fixtures and certainly not the architect’s job as they fall under the props category.
They are not props. They are an integral part of the building, even if non-structural. In the exhibition, it was explained that they would be used for projections on the side walls and back. With creativity, their use could enhance the performance for a more enjoyable experience.
Their installation should be the architect’s responsibility.
Well, there you are. That would mean Piano is in breach of contract. Go figure, eh.
Why are they an integral part of the building?
I too noticed the absence of the translucent walls.
Since Aldo pointed this out here, I checked the original project description by The Times, which said that:
“The translucent wall elements shall be constructed in such a way, that they can enclose the space, but also remain sunken, so that performances can be held in the most extraordinary scenery of some of the city’s best buildings.”
Can someone explain what that means? Does it mean that the translucent wall elements can be drawn up and down?
Have they been installed but are sunken, or have they been done away with?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090627/local/revealed-the-new-face-of-valletta.262722
They were planned for a particular type of performance which is unfeasibly costly for a country that struggles to fill any venue without offering free beer.
La Redoute: Why are they an integral part of the building?
Because they would be permanently installed, even if moveable. The visual aspect of the building would be determined by them. The way the building looks now is very different from what was presented in the exhibition. They impose loads on other parts of the buildings (including wind loading) and hence they have to be designed for.
La Redoute: “They were planned for a particular type of performance ….”
I disagree. It would be possible to use them for any type of performance including opera, concerts and theatre. The key ingredient is creativity. It would be an additional tool which, if used imaginatively, would greatly enhance any performance.
Agreed they would be expensive to install and to operate and probably that is why it was decided not to include them.
I couldn’t agree more
Here’s a link to the Jazz Festival in Istanbul in an open air space which is not even a theatre. Just amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=quhlxIqw_EA&feature=youtu.be
The greatest of them all. Acoustics one with physical form.
http://hollywoodbowltips.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/BowlSeatingChart.jpg
The curves of an equivalent intensity chart. What gets to me is the allergy to challenges which a little bit of imagination can resolve.
I mean, what’s beautiful?
HardTalk BBC yesterday evening aired a lengthy interesting interview with the 75 year old Renzo Piano. The Shard vertical city in London was the hot topic and debate were I believe Piano came out even stronger in character and genius.
Link is below :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014pgts
An excellent short clip. Gives you a glimpse of this gentle giant (intellectually of course), a humble genius.
They always are.
I’ve had the privilige of meeting and being tutored by some of Italy’s greats.
They all share one thing in common, an unassuming sincere character who carry their talent with dignity, generosity and an impish smile.
They respect all the trades, in particular the model makers who go beyond their own limits.
They teach by infection, gving you the bug. It hurts.
Impressive! You’re so right in saying a humble genius.
I’m sure that this genius must have been very impressed by Joseph Muscat, the little git from Malta who thinks he knows it all and does everything to perfection, and who wants to change the giant’s architectural plans to his liking.
Grazzi kbira lil Dr.L.Gonzi ta’ dan il-progett meraviljuz.
As a Valletta-born senior citizen I agree with everything Ms Galea Debono wrote. I have watched Andre Rieu perform in open-air venues all over the world and nobody sneers at the venues chosen.
I only hope that cultural activities are held all summer long. We don’t like the makeshift stages and uncomfortable seating we have to put up with during the summer festival. Now that we have the Teatru Rjal let’s make full use of it.
I particularly liked one sentence in Ms. Galea Debono’s piece “face the wrath of the armchair critics that infest our country”.
I wonder why so many empty and useless people, who completely lack any self-awareness, make so much sound. Is it the lack of talent in Malta or simply the insularity of the island?
It’s the amount of time lazing around, socialising and keeping up appearances.
It”s why coming back becomes a constant struggle not to be sucked into it.
Theirs is a blame game and a guttural fear of what needs to be done. Effort and dedication.
Second rate also rans, whose work either never expanded beyond a canvas small enough to fit any perspective, or a faded copy of other’s good work.
An NGO that takes it out on another one, fabricating accusations to hinder a project, was the lowest ever.
Anyone noticed how her cyclical initiatives are left to fizzle out after a few months?
Of course they’ll make most sound. Their target audience remains impressed.
“An NGO that takes it out on another one, fabricating accusations to hinder a project, was the lowest ever.”
Jozef, can you be more specific? I am curious.
Let me guess. Was it FAA? When there are the words ‘NGO’ and ‘fabricating’ (or ‘deception’ or ‘hidden agenda’) in the same sentence, then it must be FAA.
Guess.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120722/local/Cafe-owner-goes-to-war-over-plans-for-gunner-s-quarters.429551
If there’s an NGO dedicated to Malta’s military heritage it’s Wirt Artna. Not so with Astrid who unashamedly hired her services to a misguided ‘restaurant’ owner.
Note the Times caption, ‘Cafe Deux Baronnes faces destruction’. Bunch of umbrellas, plastic tables and a rickety wooden kiosk.
As usual, Vella had her documents all wrong, not to mention the extensive joint operations combat centre, later NATO, the entrance right next to it, going all the way below the upper Barakka onto the main ditch.
People like Astrid and Kenneth have to be challenged all the time, Malta in 2013 cannot afford this lowest degree of amateurism and pique.
It’s unhealthy, tiring and counterproductive. Marsa A and B stations face Astrid’s opinions on industrial archeology, as does Malta Shipbuilding.
Because she’ll want to have a say, there’s interests at stake, interests close to her FAA.
Actually few were the typical armchair critics. There were other forces at play.
The negative criticism was hyped up for political reasons by PL activists to embarrass Gonzi and Gatt.
There were also people who were promoting an alternative proposal for the opera house site from a certain Architect Trevisan.
It was not just an architectural design but a request to government to give up the site to private interests in return for a pittance. Astrid and Co formed part of this latter group. On one occasion, Ms. Vella actively promoted the Trevisan proposal.
There were also other persons who were critical out of a genuine concern, but they were very few.
Google Trevisan and you’ll get a list of 11 men including alchemists, bass players, a cardinal,a footballer, a soldier, a hockey player, a soldier but guess what? No world class architect.
Google Piano. Enough said.
Yes, portrayed as some kind of restoration, the most facile and conceited of facadism cliches. Couple of purple neon tubes round the columns and voila’, 80’s postmodernism.
Adamant on rebuilding yet accomodating that sorry excuse of a shed to ‘compromise’ with modern times. Trying to sell us the idea that a ‘free’ computer render won’t cost us anything was both an admission of serious limits as well as an insult to whoever it was addressed, that’s all the Maltese.
An apologetic disgrace to whatever it was she stood for, haggling her ‘consent’. Blackmail plain and simple.
Such is her manipulative method, sly distraction from civilised, respectful discourse. Piano reduced to foreigner, not an architect mind you, just lay foreigner. The spite.
Sometimes people underestimate Vella’s vicious nature when it comes to this. Kenneth’s her latest lift.
Comments from FAA cannot and should not be taken at face value, as unfortunately most people do.
There was a reason for FAA’s negativity and viciousness against the City gate project. Private interests wanted the opera house site for themselves. As bait, they offered government to rebuild the site without any expense to government, in accordance to the designs of (a non-entity who came by the name of) Trevisan. Government rightly refused the offer.
This group went ballistic and kept hoping against hope that government would reverse the decision. In part, this is the reason why there was so much opposition against the project in its early days. We should all be thankful to the PN Govenment for having weathered the persistent attacks because, had they not, City Gate today would have been in a disastrous state.
Astrid Vella’s criticism of the project should be seen in this context.
Note Ms. Vella commented five times on timesonline to support the Trevisan proposal.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100420/local/roofed-glass-theatre-proposal-for-opera-house-site.303661
I believe she does pretty well financially too.
Thank you, Daphne, for sharing Fiona’s wonderful piece of writing. It brought back a bit of sanity and hope to a country which I feel has gone back decades in everything which used to make us proud to be Maltese. Shame on many of us for allowing it to happen.
I think that they are making it difficult for the performers by making them pay lots of money.
Brikkuni were asked to pay around 3940 euros for their performance.
In my opinion the government wants the Teatru Rjal to be ‘abolished’ of the idea that the PN has made a masterpiece in the entrance of our capital city.
Fantastic article. Prosit, Fiona.
I long to see a plan for a wonderful programme of cultural activities keeping this marvellous arena alive and pulsing.
A few events were staged there during the Malta Arts Festival – what comes next?
I hope that it will not fall into a deep slumber for the rest of the summer, like so many other cultural venues which seem to think that culture should take a break during the heat. How about opening the space to experimental jam sessions, regular concerts – rock, jazz, classical, etc., dance happenings, installations? And a really chic bar!
Excellent article by Ms. Galea Debono.
Her sentiments are shared by the vast majority of architects I have spoken to.
As she says, anything would have been better than the obscenity that previously greeted anyone entering our capital city, but to have this masterpiece by Piano will ensure that, in years to come, besides the historic buildings that people from all around the world come to visit, they will have a contemporary architectural icon (probably the only one in Malta) on their list.
The only pity is that the abominations across the road were not also demolished and worked into the overall new scheme.
Amazingly these never seem to bother the Astrids and the Kittens.
Another very good article by Fiona Galea Debono. Daphne, thanks for bringing this gem of an article to our attention. It gives those of us arguing endlessly in favour of the Piano project the heart to continue doing so.
LE ma gejniex mitluba €3900 biex indoqqu. Gejna mitlubin €2000 f’kera, li ghal produzzjonijiet li jimmiraw ghal udjenzi ta l’fuq minn 600 ruh b’entrance fee ta €15 hija izjed minn ragonevoli. Pero r-realta gal bosta produzzjonijiet lokali hija ohra. L-ewwel xoghol fil-muzika difficli izzomm l’fuq minn €10 (meta llum tista ssiefer b’low coxt u tara banda ta livell mondjalu b’22 euro) u l-udjenza ghal tali avvenimenti tvarja minn miimu ta 100 ghal massimu ta elf….pero fil-maggor parti tad-darabi, l-udejna hija ta inqas minn 500 ruh. Dan ma huwa tort ta hadd. Huma fatti u figuri realistici ghal pajjiz b’popolazzjoni li ma tizboqx 400K. Ghaldaqstant it-Teatru jehtieg sistema izjed inventiva ta charges li ssib bilanc bejn flat fee u persentagg mil-box office. Huwa proprju ghal dik ir-raguni li ahna konna qieghdin nitlewmu
Mil-bqija it-teatru ghandu potenzjal kbir u personalment nahseb u nittama li ser ikun success.
Pero ghal klassiku veru mhux tajjeb (hemm wisq spillage ta storbju minn barra ghal gewwa, apaprti l-fatt li ladarba jkollok tamplifika orkestra tkun qieghed titlef mil-pregju taghha) Pero Malta mhux l-opera u l-klassiku biss jezistu. Hemm bosta mdia ohra li huma perfetti ghal Teatru Rjal u jistghu jigu akkomodati hemm. Huwa proporju ghal din ir-ragun li tTearu ghandu jkun tikka flssibbli halli jkun jista jakkomoda il-maggorparti tan-nicec ezistenti biex b’hekk jibqa vitali.
Kien hemm min semma Andre Rieu izejd il-fuq. Andre Rieu huwa kassiku ghan nies li ma jhobbux il-klassiku. Surmast hamallu ta orkestra hamalla. Jigifieri Rie mhux l-analogija mixtieqa. Ifhem wara kollox90%tan-nies li joqghodu jtaqtqu fuq klassiku u Opera nahseb bilkemm jafu min huwa Mahler u jattendtu t-teatri darba f;sen biss sabiex jissodisfaw l-gheruq borgizi taghhom mibnija fuq hafna parenzi u ftit sugu