When Malcolm Lowell called me to take a look at a property on Republic Street, Valletta, I unwittingly followed him into a seventies clothes shop where my mother used to work as a teenager. A few weeks later we were on our way to the Rolex headquarters in Geneva, drawing out new ideas on how to create a fitting vitrine for the desirable Swiss timepieces.
A backlit, wavy, solid green resin wall was a standard element in all boutiques – the aquaglass wall. We proposed to place it on the floor above a skylight, which would shed light to the basement room below.We presented a dreamlike space built of stone and lit by a sub-marine light thanks to the aquaglass above.
Working in a small space on the main pedestrian street of the capital came with a set of challenges. Though accessibility and bureaucratic hurdles caused daily delays for the construction and management team, everybody worked tirelessly to achieve high standards of detail and finish. One of those rare symbiotic moments between client, contractor and architect.
Team:
Architect: Chris Briffa Architects
Photography: Aldo Amoretti
