Thesis Report
The Vallettian cabinet, Victoria Gate compartments Valentin Jonathan Hunzinger Master of Architecture , Edinburgh University 2004 - 2006
Abstract How can contemporary architecture exist within a historical heritage site, and make sense of it in the face of increasing mobility, globalization and modernisation? The work charts the development and particular conditions that have through history shaped the city of Valletta since its founding in 1565. The defensive functionality of the fortifications led to the prosperity of the city during the Knight’s occupation. However, the city now faces similar problems to other historic city centres, in the wake of the petro-chemical age of mobility and suburbanization, made all the more acute by its small size and dense population.
“the car is now the defining technology of our built environment” , (Calthorpe P, 1993, The next American metropolis. Architectural Design 108, pp19-24)
Valletta now exists semi-abandoned with half the population today of 1960 and the younger residents still moving away to the suburbs of Sliema and St. Julian’s where the streets and properties are bigger and the night life more vibrant. A law was introduced to curb this tendency, capping the rent of the tenants in the old city to a level permanently the same as 1939. Though this has blessed the city’s inhabitants with cheap housing, it meant that land lords cannot afford repairs and a lot of the buildings are falling into a derelict state. The Three Cities (Senglea, Vittoriosa, Conspicua) suffer the worst abandonment, cut off by the industrial zone of the Grand Harbour - its inhabitants are the poorest of the city. The fortifications which once kept out the invading Ottoman forces, now act as a barrier impeding the movement of people within the wider urban context. Thus, the proposition evolved with an aim to ‘open up’ these enclosures, creating seams from borders, linking isolated islands of urban fabric, and allowing greater city wide integration using the modern prosperity and vitality of the suburbs to enhance the ancient historical center.
P A R T I - I S L A N D,
CONTENTS Part I - Analysis (group work)
Chapter 1 - The Maltese Archipelago, pg.11
CABINET-CITY and TERRITORY
Chapter 2 - Appleton workdesk, pg.19 Chapter 3 - City study, pg.27 Chapter 4 - Cabinets and the cultures of collecting, pg.35 Lascaris Bastion Our lady of Liesse Church
Chapter 5 - Cabinet morphology, pg.43 Chapter 6 - Territories and micro-prototypes, pg.79 Chapter 7 - The Masterplan, pg. 105
Introduction, pg.7 Chapter 8: Archive’s of the Knight’s, pg.11
COMPARTMENTS
CONTENTS Part II - Proposal (individual work)
Chapter 10 - Sultan’s Gardens, pg.37
GATE
Chapter 9: Neptune’s Gardens, pg.29
Bibliography, pg.101 Appendix I-III, pg.105
P A R T II -
Chapter 12 - Architectural practice, law and management, pg.87
VICTORIA
Chapter 11 - Technological and environmental design development, pg.51
P A R T I - I S L A N D, CABINET-CITY and TERRITORY
Part I:
Island, city cabinet and territory wider context
Prologue Part I of the report explains the investigations concerned with the city within its wider context, at a ‘macro-scale’. The proposal seeks to enhance the integrity of the existing infrastructural and material fabric, studying Valletta in relation to its wider urban context of the Thee Cities and the Sliema and St.Julians suburbs, the Island of Malta, the Maltese Archipelago, the Mediterranean and indeed, the rest of the world. To allow such a wide study the work for this first part of the report was undertaken in the majority as part of an international team of three, the author of French/English descent, an Islander, Lukas Cheah Phin of Singapore, and Xuan Zuo of Chinese origin.
culture and history concerns and problems Maltese climate
P A R T I - I S L A N D,
Maltese Archipelago Chapter 1 - The
CABINET-CITY and TERRITORY
Sliema
Manoel Island Valletta
Senglea
Floriana
Vittoriosa
Aerial view of Valletta, the capital city of Malta, with propositional overlay
Chapter 1:
The Maltese Archipelago Snap shot of Malta Population: 400, 000 (2003 estimate) Area: 316 sq km GDP growth: 2.2 % Population density: 1266 people per sq km (one of the densest in Europe) Unemployment: 5.1 % Number of tourists annually: 1.2 million (three times the population) source: Malta, Lonely Planet 2nd Edition, 2004
Malta is a sovereign country made up of a group of islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The two main islands with sizeable populations of note are Malta and Gozo. Malta occupies a very central position in the middle of the Mediterranean, between North Africa and Europe. As a crossroad between the two giant land masses, Maltese culture has been subject to many diverse influences, resulting in a unique hybridisation of the North African and European worlds. For example, while the country is predominantly Roman Catholic, its inhabitants speak Maltese, which is a North African Arabic dialect. Indeed, Malta is the only European country which speaks a Semitic language. Due to the British occupation, nearly everyone speaks English too and the island is well equipped with Her Majesties post and phone boxes, while Italian influenced food and architecture resonates around the country.
The Maltese Archipelago culture and history concerns and problems Maltese climate
Greece
Italy
Gozo
Comino
Valletta, Three Cities and Sliema
Mediterranean Sea
Malta Malta
North Africa
(source for above left and right maps - Google Earth)
Above: post and phonebox above Victoria Gate, Valletta
13
Car parking in Freedom Square and Opera House Ruin site.
Historical map of Valletta, showing Valletta and Floriana fortifications containing elaborately landscaped gardens
Chapter 1:
The Maltese Archipelago The Maltese Archipelago
A brief historical overview The earliest signs of human habitation on the Maltese Islands have been traced back to 5200 BC, from unearthed fragments of neolithic pottery and farming settlements. The impressive megalithic temples of Gigantija and Tarxien were already built some 1000 years before the Pyramids of Egypt. From 800-218 BC, the Phoenicians and Carthaginians controlled Malta. A defining moment occured during the Roman era (218 BC - AD 395), when St Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked here, resulting in the conversion of the islanders to Christianity, making them one of the oldest Christian peoples in the world. From 395 - 870 AD, Malta fell under Byzantine rule, and then from 870 1090 AD, the islands were once again under Arabic control, having a lasting impact on the Maltese language. The Normans, uder the leadership of Count Roger, ended Arab rule in 1090, placing Malta under Norman sovereignty. In 1530, under the threat from the fleets of the Ottoman Empire led by Suleyman the Magnificent, the Knights of St John were offered the Maltese Islands, which they protected succesfully in the Great Siege of 1565. After the Great Siege, they founded a new city named after La Vallette, the grandmaster of the order at the time. The Knights controlled Malta until 1798, when the French, under Napoleon, took control, albeit only for 2 years.
culture and history concerns and problems Maltese climate
above: Valletta in 1570
As the Napoleonic War came to an end, Malta became a British Crown Colony in 1814. Malta remained British until 1964, when it gained independence. In 1974, Malta became a Republic, and in 2004, she became a member of the European Union. above: Valletta in 1585
15
FORTIFICATION
Accessibility Valletta’s defences were state-of-the-art when completed in 1565. Despite it proximity to the sea, the shore is actually highly inaccesible, separated by sheer walls as high as 30 metres. However as cannon range increased, the defence lines were expanded further outwards, and Valletta was further embellished with an outer ring of bastions - The Floriana, Margarita and Cottonerra lines protecting Cospicua and the Three Cities. Eventually with the development of aeroplanes these ‘horizontal’ defences were outdated. Thus, the fortifications, with their ramparts and earthworks became obsolete, trapping the city within.
CONGESTION
Congestion Today, the city is unable to cope with the ever increasing traffic. The city is swamped with cars, even though many of the narrow streets were originally designed for horses and pedestrians and are no wider than the width of a car. Faced with shortage of parking spaces, cars are parked in prominent sites of the city like Freedom Square, this is despite the fact the government has gone to great expense in excavating the Floriana carpark to deal with this problem, just outside the city.
CONGESTION + SCALE
Chapter 1:
The Maltese Archipelago
During the day, office workers, shoppers and tourists provide vitality in Vallettas pedestrianised areas, but during the night the city is virtually deserted. With a reduced population, Valletta is partially abandoned. This is evident in the number of derelict houses and buildings scattered across the city, with some buildings in a very bad state of disrepair.
concerns and problems Maltese climate
IDENTITY
With fortifications that impede movement, a declining resident population, car parking problems and few green spaces, Valletta faces a dilemma - the problem of reconciling its undeniably rich history with modernity. How can Valletta regenerate and reinvent itself in order to respond to the demands of modern society and yet preserve its rich history?
culture and history
DEAD SPACE
The Problem of Identity
CONGESTION + SCALE
Dead spaces and Declining Resident Population
The Maltese Archipelago
17
View of Valletta from Fort St Elmo: fortifified and enclosed city of Knight’s
(source: Goya server, Edinburgh University, uploaded by Adrian Hawker)
P A R T I - I S L A N D,
Appleton workdesk Chapter 2 -
CABINET-CITY and TERRITORY
Prior to visiting Malta, the initial Appleton Tower project set up the strategies, processes and techniques which were later applied to the study of the urban fabric, helping to identify and record possible sites of interventions. The first island condition encountered, was Edinburgh University’s Appleton tower (designed by Alan Reiach, Eric Hall and Partners,1963-66). Based on the theme of the ‘Imagined Island’ the studies focused upon the border conditions it creates, the Appleton tower is seen to be an island, isolated from the rest of Edinburgh through its monumental plinth, this entrance area is a key moment to the experience of most of its users. Due to this, the interventions were focused on the concourse area, the ‘port’ of the tower island.
Chapter 2:
Appleton workdesk theoretical strategy philosophical approach conceptual tactic Island condition
The investigations were made material in the model that ensued, the ‘Workdesk Mk.1’ was a 1:50 scale model of the concourse level of the tower, which had the ability to be pulled apart into four separate drawer-like conditions, not only enabling easy removal, allowing the development of individual interventions separately, but also revealing sectional data along the journey. The names of the mechanisms employed to allow these movements including tracks, hinges, pivots and locks provided the beginnings of a specific glossary from which an architectural language for the interventions later emerged.
21
Chapter 2:
Appleton workdesk theoretical strategy philosophical approach conceptual tactic Island condition
above: appleton workdesk plan
Proposed Appleton tower concourse, photo montage
22
Workspace, cut into sections A, B, C, D and E
The Inkwell
The Writing Implement
The Locking Mechanisms
Below: Initial investigation model 1. Further right: initial sketch.
The Inkwell tension elem
ents
magnifying glass
The Writing Implement
writing surface
postcards/ stamps holder
sketches of constructional details
Detail of tension element
The Keys & Locks key bay
a variety of locks secure the workdesk above: the unlocking process inspires a moving vessel-like intervention
above: route of the moving vessel on concourse level
Chapter 2:
Appleton workdesk The locking intervention interacts with the inkwell to bring qualities of light into the darkness of the basement condition of the tower.
theoretical strategy philosophical approach conceptual tactic Island condition
Opening sequence: The intervention unravels itself from the floor slab, fully extending into a furniture. When not needed, it folds back, becoming part of the floor slab again.
above: moments on route
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26
P A R T I - I S L A N D,
draws locks
CABINET-CITY and TERRITORY
hinges subter
City study Chapter 3 -
car compartments car garden compartments g draws and bridges draw locks and gates locks a car compartments
garden compartments
bridging space DRAWS
gated fortification LOCKS
hinges and cranks hinge subteranean compartm cranking space HINGES
subteranean compartments and stairs
North Eastern, Manderragio side
The initial analysis of the city took form in the first visit to Valletta in November 2004. The drawing on these and the following pages is concerned with the presentation and organisation of the photographic documentation we brought back. A system of classification was devised and aligned to the developing Appleton workdesk vocabulary.
c o m p a r t m e n t s car comgarden compartments ws and bridges draws a nd gates locks and gat
es and cranks hinges a me n t s a n d s t a i r s s u b t e r
Above: traffic study showing principal traffic circulation routes (in red)
“a tunnel under Valletta entering the rock face at Marsamxett and exiting below the cliff at the other side would allow ferries to connect Sliema to Valletta and to the Three Cities in minutes. The tunnel runs through Valletta 40m under Old Theatre Street turning the Main Guard building into a new gateway to Valletta. It also allows for a road tunnel above the sea passage which would permit motor vehicles to access a multi storey parking area under Palace Square without touching a Valletta street. It would be costlier than the Floriana car park but would make short term visits more attractive. It would also eliminate all traffic except resident traffic from Valletta’s streets. The pollution of slow traffic looking for a parking place would be gone for good... Increasing pedestrian traffic through Valletta would be a godsend to its ailing commercial and cultural life.... Originally quoted to cost Lm8.5 million...Designed as a stand alone commercial project the original proposal did not require a cent of public money. Accessing the funding facilities available to Malta through the European Investment bank, the project would pay for itself in real time adding significantly to Malta’s infrastructure and its attractiveness to tourists and residents alike.” (http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2004/09/26/ opinion3.html)
Due to the cities small size, inhabitants of town houses do not have gardens. Houses and Auberges were only permitted internal yards. There three small existing green areas (the Upper and Lower Barracca, and the Hastings Gardens) they are pleasent shady spaces in a hot city and as they were designed for the maximum angle of line of sight for cannon fire, they also offer fine views.
Chapter 3 :
City study urban analysis materiality spatial arrangement infrastructure
St.Ursula Street
Zachari Street
Freedom Square
Floriana Gardens
Floriana Car Park Legend Pedestrian routes Traffic routes
Traffic and green space studies reveal how recent modifications to the city fabric, intending to facilitate circulation have been successful, yet had the detremental effect of congesting the small amount of public spaces and caused the neglect of some of the building stock and garden areas of the city. Recent attempts to ameliorate the situation, such as the Floriana car park have proved unsuccessful. 31
St John’s co-cathedral
Victoria Gate
left: Early model emphasizing the potential routes between the three gateway territories of Manderaggio, Main City Gate and Victoria Gate; also linking the garden spaces of the city to create a ‘green belt’ or ‘seam’ of public space running through the city.
Manderaggio social housing Upper Barakka Gardens St Andrew’s Bastion St James’ Cavalier
Hastings Gardens Main City Gate
Chapter 3 :
City study below: The city is ‘unfolded’ creating a linear strip attempting to investigate potential green space links and routes through the city.
urban analysis materiality spatial arrangement infrastructure
33
P A R T I - I S L A N D, CABINET-CITY and TERRITORY
Cabinets and the cultures of collecting Chapter 4 -
‘Poem-objet’ by Andre Breton, a ‘torn stocking’, 1941. (source: Cabinets of Curiosity, Patrick Mauries, Thames and Hudson, London 2002)
‘A very elaborate Kunstschrank, literally ‘art-cupboard’, Augsburg, 1625.
(source: Cabinets of Curiosity, Patrick Mauries, Thames and Hudson, London 2002)
Chapter 4 :
Cabinets and the Culture of Collecting cultural context
The way that the documentation for the city analysis was archived took inspiration from the princely and schorlarly ‘cultures of collecting’ that developed in early modern Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These collections became the basis for the study of nature and craft through classification, comparison and contemplation.
The Curiosity Cabinet
the curiosity cabinet histrorical context
One of the more noticeable cultural character traits of the Maltese people is their piety, the many churches of Valletta, and their vicinity are alive with worship attended by the old and young alike. The Maltese were Christians long before the Knights arrived and share a healthy faith with other islands in relatively close vicinity of the Vatican (Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica). During medieval times, Christians in Europe particularly valued the remains of Christ and the Apostles, or objects that had been associated with them such as pieces of the True Cross or the fabled Holy Grail. The motive for possessing these relics was their supposed sanctity and the powers attributed to them to cure sickness. Often, the possession of an artifact would suffice as reason for the construction of a new church. The more popular the relic the more pilgrims would come to see it, bringing investment into an area. Before long the skeletons of saints were also given equal veneration and as time went on the objects became increasingly bizarre – a vial of the Virgin’s milk or Moses’ rod – often enshrined in precious reliquaries. The abbey of St-Denis, near Paris, had one of the largest collections in Europe. In Valletta the Anglo-Bavarian Chapel in the Co-Cathedral of St.John’s, is also known as the Chapel of the Relics. Essentially a large niche, it was given to the langue in 1784 and held the principal collection of the knights reliquaries, until Napoleon stole them. Some of Valletta’s churches unusually still cherish their relics, the small church of St. Paul’s Shipwreck alluding to the arrival of the Apostle Paul and St.Luke on the island in 60 AD, contains the Apostle’s tibea and part of the beam from which he was hung in Rome. These artefacts aroused an interest into the nature of collecting, and its history as follows. As technological advancements allowed people to travel further, and the New World was discovered, interesting new objects from all over began to be brought back to be put together in collections, usually housed in cabinets. Something of the atmosphere of the supernatural that belonged to the medieval relics passed to the cabinets of curiosities, so that alchemy, the occult and magic were never very far away. In the book ‘Cabinets of Curiosities’, Patrick Mauries gives an interesting account of how they evolved over time; He mentions that the precursors of cabinets of curiosities can be found in the relic collections of medieval churches, and goes on to say; “These objects began life as the private collection of wealthy explorers, intended to remind them of their journeys or to entertain friends. Gradually they evolved into repositories of knowledge, and began to acquire a more public face, becoming the true precursor of the modern day museum.”
Reliquary containing the Apostle Paul’s armbone in Saint Pauls Shipwreck Church, Valletta 37
The complusion to collect has led many on long journeys across oceans and seas to far flung places, often bringing back many exotic artifacts and items. These artefacts are seen as representatives of the world from which they were taken, and when housed in private cabinets, take on the nature of the ‘microcosm’ of the world, becoming more than just souvenirs; “In contrast to the souvenir, the collection offers example rather than sample…Metaphor rather than metonomy. The collection does not displace attention to the past; rather, the past is at the service of the collection…the collection replaces history with classification…the collection represents the total aestheticization of use value…the archetypal collection is Noah’s Ark, a world which is representative yet which erases its context of origin.”
(On Longing: Narratives of the miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection, pg151) Joseph Cornell’s three-dimensional collage (source: Cabinets of Curiosity, Patrick Mauries, Thames and Hudson, London 2002)
Indeed, when the object is detached from its origin, it becomes more provocative. When housed in a cabinet and with other artefacts, the overall composition of the objects creates a multiplicity of poetic resonances and provokes our capacity for new associations. This was exploited to great effect by the Surrealists, and later artists such as Joseph Cornell.
“Paradoxically, the strangeness of any object in a cabinet of curiosities was the surest guarantee of a sort of reality” (Cabinet of curiosities, Patrick Mauries pg 216)
Chapter 4 :
Cabinets and the Culture of Collecting Cabinet Phenomenology
cultural context
Some of these ideas provided the theoretical basis in which we constructed the Vallettian Cabinet model. A cabinet of curiosity is not just a collection of objects in a cabinet. It is a unique space in its own right;
the curiosity cabinet histrorical context
“The space of the collection is a complex interplay of exposure and hiding, organisation and the chaos of infinty. The collection relies upon the box, the cabinet, the cupboard, the seriality of shelves. It is defined by these boundaries…”pg.157 Mauries from’ Sir John Soanes’ Museum, London.’ Stefan Buzas, Berlin 1994
‘the set of objects the museum displays is sustained only by the fiction that they somehow constitute a coherent representational universe. The fiction is that a repeated metonymic displacement of fragment for totality, object to label, series of objects to series of labels, can still produce a representation which is somehow adequate to a nonlinguistic universe. Such a fiction is a result of an uncritical belief in the notion that ordering and classifying, that is to say, the special juxtaposition of fragments, can produce a representational understanding of the world.’ (In an essay on bouvard and pecuchet, Eugenio Donato, Page 162)
While these objects seem to represent the world(s) from which they were taken, in fact, they are little miniature ‘worlds’ of their own, producing a new distinct reality from their original context. This was especially the case when unrelated objects and fragments were placed together, stimulating our capacity for association. It could be argued that this association, often unintentional, provokes us to ‘The Model Room’, House and Museum of Sir John Soane
“The Sense of Sight’, painting by Brueghel and Rubens, 1617. A pictorial equivalent of the cabinets, representing the desire to bring all knowledge into a single space
(source: Cabinets of Curiosity, Patrick Mauries, Thames and Hudson, London 2002)
from The cultures of collecting - Ed John Elsner and Roger Cardinal.
39
Levin Vincent’s collection of naturalia, Amsterdam, 1706.
(source: Cabinets of Curiosity, Patrick Mauries, Thames and Hudson, London 2002)
The Appleton workdesk initial Vallettian overlay study
Chapter 4 :
Cabinets and the Culture of Collecting perceive new realities. This idea was developed extensively by more recent artists such as Andre Breton and Joseph Cornell.
cultural context the curiosity cabinet
the nature of ‘collecting’ is a highly selective process in which the individual assembles his own world. As Jean Baudrillard wrote in Le systeme des objets (1968), objects
8 Recepticle for a personal mythology, Natasha Nicholson (born 1945) (source: Cabinets of Curiosity, Patrick Mauries, Thames and Hudson, London 2002)
histrorical context
“thereby constitue themselves as a system, on the basis of which the subject seeks to piece together his world, his personal microcosm.” Valletta itself is cabinet-like in many ways. Enclosure and compartmentalization are evident in the massive walls of the Knights fortifications, within them however many different microcosms also exist (tunnels, gardens, religious establishments, military etc) embedded within the city, both literally and metaphorically.
7 Trompe-l’oeil painting of a cabinet, 17th century, attributed to Domenico Ramps (source: Cabinets of Curiosity, Patrick Mauries, Thames and Hudson, London 2002)
The research was physically realized in the Vallettian Cabinet, as explained in the next chapter, serving on one hand as a site model, but on the other hand, as an analytical model. In essence, the changes that were made to the fabric of the of the Appleton Workdesk to allow their movement informed the design process in such a way that a notion began to emerge of the unfolded city becoming the proposal operating at a variety of scales. A cabinet of curiosity in itself.
41
P A R T I - I S L A N D,
Cabinet morphology Chapter 5 -
CABINET-CITY and TERRITORY
The cuts in the original fabric were used to position a new layer, now providing sections through the city, accross its main axis of St. John’s and Republic Street. New cuts, hinges, moves and mechanisms were also worked into the fabric of the workdesk, to represent cultural and historical analysis of the city not apparent within a conventional model or map.
These hinges and cuts are specifically situated according to, not only the physical make up of the territory, but also its political, social, theoretical, conceptual, mythological, technical, environmental, poetic and spatial potentials. In this way new and appropriate architectural possibilities are ‘uncovered’ through the strategy of uncovering the site/city itself.
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology
City Gate (master lock) Republic Street (centre rod with notch) Opera House Ruins (latch) St. James Cavalier (hinge point) Castille Place (hinge point)
Great Siege Square (teeth of master key)
cultural context
Republic Square (teeth of master key) St. John’s Cavalier (hinge point)
philosophical approach
Church of St Augustine
Lascaris Bastion (cutting edge)
methodological strategy
St. Andrew’s Bastion (hinge point) Our Lady of Liesse built in 1620 (cutting edge) St. Salvatore Bastion (hinge)
Site of Neptunes Fountain 1614 - 1853 (hinge point)
St. John’s street (principal axis)
Victoria Gate replacing the Porta Del Monte in 1884 (plug) St. John’s Co-Cathedral completed 1577 (hidden compartment)
historical context
St. Paul’s Shipwreck Church C16th (key) Site of chapel of San Salvatore 1712 - 1856 (cutting edge)
Lower Barracca Gardens above fisheries (Lever)
Marsamxett Harbour (Draw)
Republic street (principal axis)
Cabinet in closed position
45
Cabinet opening
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context philosophical approach methodological strategy historical context
Cabinet in open position
47
above: The master lock
above: The Vallettian cabinet with master lock highlighted left: first stage of lock mechanism sequence
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context
MOVE I
Revolved Teeth of Master key
I-KBIR SQUARE I-Kbir Square
I-Kbir or St. Johns Square, within the city block of St. John’s Co-Cathedral was built in 1573 by the Maltese Architect Girolmu Cassar. When the Church was completed in 1577 it was used by the Knights of the Order of St. John as their conventual church. please refer to move IX, pg.66, St.Johns draw for more information on the cathedral.
philosophical approach methodological strategy historical context
Entrance to St. John’s Co-Cathedral
49
Royal Opera House Ruin
Our Lady of Victories
St. John’s Cavalier
St. James Cavalier City Gate
above: Fully opened city gate compartment
above: The Vallettian cabinet with master lock highlighted left: second stage of lock mechanism sequence
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context
MOVE II
Revolve counter-teeth of Master Key
SANTA LUCIA STREET above: Santa Lucia Street
Due to the undulating nature of the peninsula on which Valletta was built the streets that run perpendicular to republic street are very steep or stepped. The stairs do not conform to normal dimensions since they were constructed so as to allow knights in heavy armour to be able to climb the steps. Many of the streets that run parallel to Republic Street fall steeply as you get closer to the tip of the peninsula.
philosophical approach methodological strategy historical context
51
above: The Vallettian cabinet with master lock highlighted left: latch (Royal Opera House Ruins) of lock mechanism sequence 52
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context
MOVE III
open the latch of the master lock
above: Ruins of the Royal Opera House
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE RUINS
philosophical approach
Designed by the British architect Edward Middleton Barry and erected in 1860, its interior was extensively damaged by fire in 1873 but was eventually restored. After completion of the restoration in 1877 it became Valletta’s Best known and loved building attracting people of all classes and uniformed members of the garrision on operatic nights, however it was destroyed by bombing in 1942 and the ruins that still remain are currently used for car parking.
methodological strategy historical context
above: Royal Opera House before 1942
53
ral context
hilosophical approach
hodological strategy historical context
above: The Vallettian cabinet with master lock highlighted left: Removal of master key
54
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context
MOVE IV
Remove Master key
The City Gate
THE CITY GATE AND COUNTERGUARDS the first gate leading into the fortified city Valletta had a respectable and solid entrance. This consisted of a central archway with a smaller arch at each side, plus a drawbridge. In 1853 another gate was put up as a replacement to the original one, designed by Colonel Thompson of the Royal Engineers, and consisting of two central arches with two smaller ones.
Counterguards
philosophical approach methodological strategy historical context
In 1964, City Gate as exists today was created. A private contractor was commissioned with the project. The bridge that connected Valletta to Floriana was widened, mainly for ease of transport into the city, and the doorway itself was also widened to cope with the greater influx of people who moved in and out of Valletta on a daily basis. Many criticised the new creation, calling it a jarring feature totally unconnected with the rest of the history lying within it.
The grand bridge
55
pulling out compartment drawer
56
Open compartment one
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context
MOVE V
Open compartment one
St.James Cavalier
THE CAVALIERS
philosophical approach
These are key strong points containing vital stores, high cannon bays and last fortifications in case of siege. Buried under St.James Cavalier is a mysterious tunnel leading via the Upper Barracca gardens to St Peters bastion most probably for ammunition and cannon movement.
methodological strategy historical context
The grand fortress wall
57
Manderaggio Tunnel (former Marsamxett Gate) St Salvatore Bastion Walls
above: The Vallettian cabinet with master lock highlighted left: Elevation plan and isometric view of salvatore compartment 58
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology MOVE VI
cultural context
hinge
SALVATORE BASTION WALLS
philosophical approach
There used to be a gate on the walls of St Salvatore Bastion. It was known as the Marsamxett Gate, and acted as the main gateway into Manderaggio before its demolition in the early 1900s. Since the gate led to the steam ferry (1882) landing stage, the area was always very busy - a magnet for the sweet vendors of the Manderaggio.
methodological strategy historical context
Manderaggio is metaphorically a hinge. Today it still acts as the only direct entry point from the Sliema-Manderaggio ferry pier, through St Salvatore Bastion walls, and into the city. It asserts considerable influence over the area. Thus Manderaggio and its environs could be thought of as a large drawer which necessarily pulls out and unhinges itself in order to reveal its contents.
59
Valletta
Sliema Manoel Island
above: The Vallettian cabinet with master lock highlighted Sliema Manoel Island Valletta
60
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context
MOVE VII
philosophical approach
MARSAMXETT DRAWER
methodological strategy
sliding and hinging
After the St Salvatore walls are peeled away, the Marsamxett compartment is free to move, sliding out, and then hinging over the harbour waters. As it hinges out, the extreme ends of the drawer touches Sliema and Manoel Island, linking the peninsula and the island to Valletta. This move highlights the ferry link between the Valletta and Sliema, as well as the historical link between Manoel Island and Valletta, whereby the former served as a quarantine facility for the inmates of Valletta.
historical context
61
The void spaces reveal the historic nature of the area, which was partially excavated in an failed proposal to create a sheltered harbour within the Manderaggio area. Manderaggio Social Housing
above: The Vallettian cabinet with master lock highlighted left: Elevation plan and isometric view of the compartment 62
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context
MOVE VIII
MARSAMXETT HARBOUR WATERS
MANDERAGGIO SOCIAL HOUSING Manderaggio is an area with multiple layers of history. in the 16th century, the area was planned to be developed into a sheltered harbour. To facilitate this, the ground was quarried, with its rocks turned into building material for the houses of Valletta. The quarry was abandoned when the rocks were found to be unsuitable. Slum dwellings gradually filled the area, which became a walled city within Valletta itself. Its haphazard streets stood in complete contrast to the grid layout of Valletta, giving the area a distinct character of its own. During the Second World War, Manderaggio was damaged in the bombing. After the war, the slum was cleared and replaced by public housing, which still stands today.
philosophical approach methodological strategy historical context
Manderaggio Social Housing
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St.Paul’s Shipwreck Church
Above: The Vallettian cabinet St.Johns draw highlighted Left: St.Johns draw detail Far left: Two step plans of St.Paul’s Shipwreck church showing unfolding sequence.
The inkwell
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology MOVE IX Key 2
CHURCH OF ST.PAUL’S SHIPWRECK St.Paul’s Shipwreck Church interior
Reflecting the importance of the Apostle St. Paul to the Maltese as a pose to the patron saint of the foreign Knight’s of St. John. The edge condition of St. John’s Co-Cathedral draw is St. Paul’s Street. The 16th century Church of Saint Paul’s Shipwreck, tucked in very tightly in its Medieval city block, houses a piece of the Apostle’s arm bone and part of the beam from which he was beheaded in Rome. The gilded timber statue of the saint resides here too, apart from when it is paraded through the streets of the city every year on the 10 of February. This day is a public holiday in Malta and Gozo, marking the date of the shipwreck of Apostle Paul and Saint Luke in Malta in AD60. After their wreck, the legend goes, Paul healed the sick father of Plubius, the Roman governor of Malta at the time, (whose villa is said to lie beneath the co-Cathedral of St. Paul in Medina) converting him to Christianity, setting up the foundations of the strong faith still present today.
cultural context philosophical approach methodological strategy historical context
Church of St.Paul’s Shipwreck
Church of St.Paul’s Shipwreck unfolding
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St Johns co-cathedral
St. John’s Co-Cathedral In the work of Opening A, the inkwell condition, an island of liquid within a sea of timber, developed an interest in the habitation of the floor plate. In Valletta, the inhabited floor condition is prevalent in St. John’s Co-Cathedral, where the flooring is made up of 384 inlaid marble slabs that are actually the tombs of the higher Knights of the order of St. John; each slab bearing a particular knight’s arms. The chapels, divided between the different Langue’s (the knight’s of the Order of St, John came from different European Aristocratic families and were separated or compartmentalized into Langues according to the differing languages they spoke) contain the tombs of the later Grand Masters; earlier Grand Masters are buried in the crypt.
St Johns co-cathedral floor slabs
Draw elevation showing religious depth of St.Paul’s Shipwreck Church
St.Paul’s Shipwreck Church St.Johns Co-Cathedral
Void representing the Knight’s final resting place ‘the inkwell’
Opening A catalogue ‘the inkwell’
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above: The Vallettian cabinet with jacked elements highlighted Left: Jack detail
MOVE X
City Armament lowered.
Traces of old street level
FORTIFICATIONS and FISHERIES
Liesse hill under re-construction
The old porta del monte
In 1884, to increase commerce through better access to the Grand Harbour, the new Victoria Gate was built and the old Porta del Monte destroyed and Liesse Hill level lowered. Traces of the old street level can be seen on the buildings facades on the Liesse Church side. This extravagant move inspired the installation of a car jack into the structure of the Valletian Cabinet to reproduce the lowering effect, and sink the fortifications to clarify the city section. This move also highlights the relationship between the fisheries, through which all fish brought into the island has to pass, and the fishermen and fishing boats at the otherside of the city in Manderragio.
Fisheries and Lower Barracca gardens
Lower Barracca gardens
view onto Lascaris bastion
view onto Lower Barracca
quarantine facilities on site of fisheries
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above: Victoria gate ‘plug’
Lascaris Bastion Our lady of Liesse Church
Above: The Vallettian cabinet Liesse compartment highlighted Left: Liesse compartment detail Far left: Plans and elevations of the compartment
MOVE XI NOTRE DAME DE LIESSE Hinge revealing Mangiari steps
Side of Our Lady of Liesse
Facade of Our Lady of Liesse
Victoria Gate
Old Porta del Monte
The Church of Ta Liesse was built primarily for the French Knights of the Order. The hinge pivoting from the base of Liesse Hill represents the neglectful use of this old site of the fountain of Neptune constructed in 1614, as a roundabout. The cut where the hinging element breaks away from the city fabric is the site of the old chapel of San Salvatore cut into the fortification base in 1712, demolished in 1853. There remain several vaults at the base of the Barbara Bastion; some of these are used as garages. Also, in 1853 the Sultan’s Gardens below St. Paul’s Bastion were destroyed to make way for the Bastion of Lascaris
Saluting battery
directly above extract of WW II plan showing air raid shelters and tunnels
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Upper Barracca Gardens
Canon munitions tunnel
Lascaris War rooms
Above: The Vallettian cabinet with Upper Barraca compartments highlighted Left: Tunnel details Far left (opposite page): Plans and elevations of the compartment
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context Upper Barracca Gardens
MOVE XI
Compartment 2 revealed
UPPER BARRAKKA GARDENS.
Removal of Garden pieces to reveal tunnels, hinge out of St. Peter’s Bastion.
Upper Barracca Gardens
War roomentrance from ditch
War room tunnel
The Upper Barrakka Gardens built in 1661, were the ‘private’ gardens of the Italian Knights, whose auberges lie close by and not open to the public until 1824. Built on St. Peter and St. Paul’s Bastion, within which the Knights excavated a tunnel linking St. Jame’s Cavalier directly with the Bastion, for the distribution of cannon balls to St. Peters bastion. During World War II another set of tunnels, reputed to have been used by the inquisition and later Napoleon as dungeons, the Lascaris War Rooms, were used as the Allies Mediterranean Headquarters. The hinge pivot is situated at the piercing of the Duke of York street into the fortification done in 1927 to aid circulation problems in the city centre.
philosophical approach methodological strategy historical context
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War rooms entrance St. Peters bastion
Entrance to munitions tunnel Upper Barracca Gardens
Above: The Vallettian cabinet plan Left: model details Below far left: isometric and elevations of the compartment
The ditch
The Barrierra catalogue, includes initial programmatic considerations
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology cultural context philosophical approach methodological strategy
Lift demolished in the 1970’s
historical context
Munitions tunnel entrance
Munitions bridge over ditch
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Align
Chapter 5 :
Cabinet Morphology
Anchor Amend Attach Balance
cultural context
Align
Adjust
Glossary of Terms
Bolt
Bolt
Bond Brace
philosophical approach methodological strategy historical context glossary
The construction of the Valletian cabinet inspired investigations into a specialised glossary for an architectural language derived for use in the construction of the proposals.
Bracket Breach Break into Bridge Buttress Cantilever Carve Clad Clamp Close Clip Conceal Confine Configure Connect Constrain Constrict
Compartment
Control Compartment Crease Cut
Cut
Display Divide Dock Dovetail Dowel Draw
Draw
Embed Enclose Envelop Etch Erode Expose Fasten Fill Flip
Flip
Fudge Fold Fortify Glide Gouge
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Grasp
Grasp
Hang Handle Hide Hinge
Hinge
Hook Insert Jack Knob Latch Lever Lining Lock Mechanism Notch Open Overhang Perforate Pierce Pivot Position Pull Push Rail Reach
Rail
Recoil Recessed Retain Reveal Revolve Runners Rotate Shear Secure Score Separate Slice Slide Slip Store Support Swivel Telescope Tie Tracks Trap Turn Twist Tweak Veneer Vice Wind Wedge
slip
P A R T I - I S L A N D, CABINET-CITY and TERRITORY
and micro-prototypes Chapter 6 - Territories
Territory 3: Xuan Zuo
Main entrance Gate
Territory 2: Lukas Cheah Phin
Manderaggio Gate Territory 1: Valentin Hunzinger
Victoria Gate
above: Plan of cabinet showing territorial segmentation and ‘ownership’
Chapter 6 : Territory 2
Territories and micro-prototypes During the construction process of the Vallettian cabinet, certain areas of the city raised particular interests and as each group member researched and built a certain area of the cabinet their knowledge and interests became specialised, this expertise engendered a kind of ‘possession’ of that area, in such a way three distinct territories were identified.
Valletta territories House for an exile analysis of the territories
The problems and concerns identified in Chapter 1 - The Maltese Archipelago, had led to the interest in gate (edge) conditions, crucial to the infrastructure of the city, and garden ‘compartments’ rare in Valletta. The three territories are based around the principal axis through the city created by Republic and St.John’s Street and the three major entrances to the city for the inhabitants of the expanding urban fabric: these are the main gate and subsiduary entrances (Xuan Zuo), Marsamextt gate (Lukas Cheah Phin), and Victoria gate (the author).
Territory 3
Territory 1
above: Plan showing the three territories
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Territory 1 Analysis: Victoria Gate
Territory 2 Analysis: Manderaggio-Sliema
Territory 3 Analysis: Main entrance Gate and subsiduary entrance conditions
To test the developing language a mini-project was undertaken in the citadel on the Island of Gozo. The citadel, following the same architectural principles of fortifications was ideal for the prototype as it can easily be considered a miniature version of Valletta. The project consisted of a house for an exile. The design of the house is the result of the analysis of three sites in Valletta, of which the exile had a fond memory. The exile is keen to get back to Valletta and does not anticipate himself staying long on Gozo therefore the house was seen as a temporary arrangement, which can be folded back into a small size and locked up for safe storage. The ‘remembered’ movements through Valletta on the exiles day to day journeys were used for a new, more closely focused, analysis of the particular territories from which the architecture of the house was derived. Numerous concerns were tested our way of conceptualising the site in relation to programme and appropriate response to the visual, thermal and acoustics properties of the area.
Citadel, Gozo
(source: Maltese National Library)
Citadel, Gozo
Valletta
Gozo exile house plan source: Google Earth
A rainwater collector becomes a stair when filled and lifts the cabinet through a pulley system
Dining Cabinet
Chapter 6 :
Territories and micro-prototypes The Three Memories
Valletta territories
The entire Citadel is in fact the ‘house’ of the exile. The proposed interventions are therefore components within the house. The three components are: the ‘writing cabinet’, based on the memory of Sliema-Manderragio, the ‘cloak changing cabinet’ based upon the memory of the main gate, and the dining cabinet based on the memory of the fisheries around Victoria Gate.
House for an exile analysis of the territories
Writing Cabinet
Cloak Changing Cabinet
above: sketch by author 85
Chapter 6 :
Territories and micro-prototypes Valletta territories House for an exile analysis of the territories
The Main City Gate memory The exile’s memory of passing through the Main City Gate area is captured and represented in the drawing above.
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The memories of the Main Gate are brought to the equivalent main gate of the Citadel on Gozo, manifesting itself as the cloak changing component of the exile’s house. The choreography of this component reminds the exile of his movements around Valletta, as revealed by the analysis of the City Gate area.
House for the exile - Cloak changing Cabinet The cloak changing cabinet is a space where the exile changes and stores his clothes. It closes off the gate when used as a changing room, and opens for the public to go at other times.
The design of the cabinet also references itself to the analysis of other gate conditions along the edge of Valletta.
movement of cloak changing cabinet
Chapter 6 :
Territories and micro-prototypes Valletta territories House for an exile
Manderaggio - Sliema territory analysis
analysis of the territories
The Sliema-Manderaggio memory The exile has fond memories of travelling from vibrant Sliema, crossing Marsamxett Harbour and docking at the quiet fishing community of Manderaggio gate. The representation of his memory - journey is captured here. 92
The experience of the exile as he enters Valletta through the Manderaggio gateway from Sliema is condensed, emphasizing only the parts of the journeys that are relevant to his experience.
The represented memories are then rescaled and embedded within a fragment of the Citadel wall on Gozo, expressing itself as the writing component of the house for the exile.
the writing table with a framed view of the Gozitan landscape
writing cabinet choreography
writing cabinet in closed position
writing cabinet in open position
Chapter 6 :
window for contemplation
Territories and micro-prototypes Valletta territories House for an exile analysis of the territories
writing table bed
bookshelves
House for the exile - Writing Cabinet The writing cabinet is a space where the exile reads and writes a diary, thinking about his home in Valletta as the days pass. There is also a bed if he chooses to sleep. The writing cabinet is situated on the outer wall of the Citadel, which looks out to the Gozitan landscape. When not needed, the writing cabinet folds neatly back into the wall.
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Chapter 6 :
Territories and micro-prototypes Valletta territories House for an exile analysis of the territories
The Victoria Gate memories The exile had to transgress Victoria Gate every Friday morning on his way to get the freshest fish straight from the Fisheries. The sectional aspect of this journey (from sea level to Valletta level, thirty metres above) inspired a three dimensional representation.
These moves were then rescaled and embedded within the site in the citadel, the dining component of the house for the exile.
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Below: view of the unfolded dining cabinet.
Chapter 6 :
Territories and micro-prototypes Valletta territories House for an exile analysis of the territories
above and right: Elevations and plan of the dining cabinet, within site below: Details
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Light and shade were controlled passively, the positioning of the dining table for instance is such that it is just high enough for evening sun light, whereas the kitchen area is always shaded. Rain is collected, within the spiral stair filtered through special stones to drinkable standards.
above and below: Prototype dining cabinet model, opening sequence
P A R T I - I S L A N D,
The Masterplan Chapter 7 -
CABINET-CITY and TERRITORY
(source: cabinets of curiosity pg.41)
The containers of the cabinet hold the documentation of the work, this functional quality also offered inspiration for the programme, which began to emerge as a cabinet of the collections of the city. Many programmes were initially considered; a steel recycling facility, a charity for the many stray dogs and cats on the Island, a Euro-Islamic academic exchange centre, storytelling centre, skate-park, furniture workshop, public theatre, bakery, bookshop, herb shop, holistic health center, housing for homeless, artists/stone masons housing, stone mason’s workshop/tool archive/apprentice training facility. However for various reasons each proposal was found to be unsuitable, in the case of the latter for instance research revealed that Malta already has a strong Masonic tradition, and apprenticeships are easily available from the island’s many Master Masons.
(source: Culture of collecting pg.202)
Eventually the holding conditions made explicit in the cabinet and the themes of the thesis work began to hold sway, and the hybrid programme of the Archives/Public park/public infrastructural links was derived for further exploration. The research into cabinets and collecting developed an interest in the dialectic between display and hiding fundamental to the cabinet condition, the program of archives was not chosen for its ability to regenerate the city but because of the association with collecting and displaying, and our wonder at the number of treasures within this small city. However by combining the public garden which is seen to flow through, under or over the archives it is hoped to open up the boundary conditions of the fortifications ameliorating some of the perceived problems of the city. It also became apparent that in masterplanning the overall arrangement of the three separate archives as one, a city wide proposition begins to develop, multiplying the effect of the interventions, allowing greater relevance and intergration with the whole city fabric.
Chapter 7 :
The masterplan Valletta territories urban
The urban arrangement arrangement of the archive Archives, concerned programmes with public space and the city entrance conditions, includes; The provision of a taxi-boat, ferry service to alleviate congestion from the Three Cities and Sliema, a tram service from the main gate to service Floriana and St.Julians. and new ambulatory links between the lower and Upper Barracca and Hastings gardens. Though the proposal largely reclaims space used for cars it is foressen that the public gardens would be linked with the large car park just outside the city and the new public transport services; providing better pedestrian access while maintaining basic residential traffic routes and parking spaces. Within the masterplan the ditch acts as a green park also relinking the two seasides and gardens of the city. The proposal of the archives accessed along these links feeds from this circulation, allowing passers by connection with the artefacts held inside and encouraging participation through the provision of public functions within the spaces.
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Manderaggio Gate
Main Gate
Victoria Gate
above: Registry and Archive of Genealogy under construction
above: Cartographical Archive under construction
Registry and Archive of Genealogy, Lukas Cheah Phin Currently, the registries of birth, death and marriage are housed in different locations around Valletta. By bringing them together in a single building, the various registries would be able to share resources and provide a more integrated and efficient service. The addition of a Genealogical Research facility further enhances its character as a repository and ‘guardian’ of Malta’s genealogical heritage. The Registry and Archive also acts as a new gateway, offering new routes and links into Manderaggio by reusing fragments of the old Manderaggio road, creating new ramps and reusing the roof spaces of the existing waterfront buildings.
Chapter 7 :
The masterplan Valletta territories urban arrangement archive programmes
Cartographical Archive, Xuan Zuo Many plans and maps of Valletta have been drawn through out its history and foreseeable future, the national library holds a large collection of historical examples. Unfortunately it lacks modern facilities for future storage, reproduction, research and access. The cartographical archives are concerned with the provision of a contemporary space within which to display and research the valuable historical maps of Valletta, and attempts to reveal the cities evolution through temporary exhibitions of selected pieces, while providing secure storage space for contemporary pieces.
Archives of the Knight’s, the author. The Archives of the Knights aim to alleviate congestion from the Three Cities by providing a taxi-boat, secondly by offering new pedestrianised park-ways, reanimating the cleared sites of neptunes fountain and sultans gardens with public space, providing a closer ecological link to the lower Barracca gardens. And thirdly the arrangement of the proposal is such that the public space opens up existing punctures in the fortification to create new connections to the Upper Barracca gardens and war-rooms beneath, linking to the site of the cartographical archive and gardens at the main gate of the city.
above: Archive’s of the Knight’s under construction 109