Architect of Gasan skyscraper had objected strongly to Renzo Piano designs for Valletta

This is a letter which Martin Xuereb, who is the architect of the Gasan skyscraper which will go up at Qui-Si-Sana, Sliema, wrote to The Times seven years ago to object to Renzo Piano’s designs for Valletta.

I remembered it because at the time I was totally taken aback that he would write it – and not only from a professional perspective. But we won’t go into that aspect of things. So it stuck in my memory, and with the escalating outcry against the skyscraper in question, I decided to look it up (two seconds: ‘Martin Xuereb Renzo Piano’ in Google) and upload it here.

Time has proved Mr Xuereb completely wrong about Renzo Piano’s designs, but that was to be expected. He says in his letter that he feels very strongly about Valletta, where he was born and raised. Yet he shows no sensitivity towards the feelings about the destruction of their home town of those who born and raised in Sliema.

A Renzo Piano skyscraper would be a beautiful and extraordinary thing (and no doubt Mr Xuereb would write to the Times of Malta to object to it), but here’s the thing: Piano would never have accepted the brief for that location, because a beautiful skyscraper is beautiful in context.