Design - Alan Galea, Simon Grech, Francesca Scicluna

Write-up - MODEL

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The spirit of our proposal lies in the way we have designed two buildings that embrace their identity and remain legible to both the user and community, whilst still managing to work in harmony together by reaching out to each other by means of a bridge to share common ground/function (Offices).

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The commercial building uses a very rationale architectural language embracing efficiency and functionality rooted in an eight by eight grid that is read throughout the building including the facade and the roof. This grid appropriates different functions throughout the building: from structure to the shading of the south west sun to aesthetic. This rationale would make the building future proof allowing it to accommodate other functions should the commercial activity fail.

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At ground floor one is greeted by shallow pools that help cool winds entering the building and ultimately cooling the temperatures of the building passively during the hot summer months. Water is also found beneath the atrium in the centre of the building where cyclists going to work in the building from nearby towns may sit down and enjoy the shaded space and cool atmosphere before moving on to have a shower in the showers located in the cores on either side of the building.

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The core facing the Hotel building also services the offices located in it, allowing us to dedicate another core solely for hotel use that is reached through a lobby located besides a drop off point under the bridge strategically placed protecting future guests from the elements. The rest of the hotel is located on the fourth fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth floor. The Hotel building is more specific in aesthetic formed by a triangular monolithic block of thick limestone and concrete walls that takes advantage of thermal mass to keep temperatures as constant and comfortable as possible during both the winter and the summer months. The building evokes curiosity through its playful facade and triangular apertures that act as a metaphor of a paper plane where most people began their journey into the adventure of flight by folding paper and testing the limits of their wings.