Tacky is the word.

You know I’d love to see different styles of beautiful architecture permitted by MEPA, instead of the graceless uniformity of commercially viable “frontage x depth” mentality.

Single houses and structures permitted to be uniquely and drastically different. Sometimes I think local architects only compete within set levels of mediocrity and that it is either terribly frustrating for them or profit all round is the only thing on the table.

But once you decide to be different, get going without permits and generally be permitted to proceed away to your heart’s desire, why doesn’t aesthetics form part of the whole?

Tacky, and desperately graceless is what still remains.

It’s a pity money can’t buy grace and elegance. It’s a pity that architects can’t or won’t go that extra step. It’s a pity that the people regulating such buildings can’t agree on a mix of style, elegance, taste and gracefulness and escape from the monotonous, boring, graceless, ugly and mediocre landscape of post 1970-architecture in Malta.