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39
SIR ARTURO
MERCIECA
Sliema, Malta — Completed 2020 — 550 m²
This project began with an act of careful unearthing—a reverent dismantling of a late 19th-century Maltese townhouse, revealing the layers of its architectural history. The interiors, once adorned with carved stone architraves and a cast-iron Victorian fireplace, were gently deconstructed. Each element was catalogued, restored, and thoughtfully reincorporated into the new structure—preserving memory not as ornament, but as continuity.
The original two-storey façade, with its timber apertures and iconic closed timber balcony, was retained and repaired. Its uppermost section, however—where a grand limestone flat arch once spanned precariously—was found to be structurally unstable. In response, this portion, including the intricate building cornice, was delicately dismantled and rebuilt stone by stone, a precise reconstruction that honoured the craft of its making.
The architectural language of the new upper storeys emerges as a quiet extension of the existing townhouse. The added façade does not compete, but listens. Proportions were meticulously studied—void-to-solid ratios preserved, alignments respected, and balconies scaled in harmony with the original composition. New openings are framed with recessed limestone cornices that echo their historic counterparts, allowing old and new to speak with one voice.
The wrought iron patterns found in the fanlights above the original doors inspired the design of the new steel balcony railings—an abstracted memory rendered in contemporary craft.
Beyond the façade, the internal arrangement was approached with equal care. The common areas were designed to breathe: strategically placed vented openings at both ground and roof level invite natural cross-ventilation, while all roof slabs were thermally insulated to soften the island’s summer heat. These passive strategies are embedded quietly within the architecture, allowing comfort to emerge from spatial intelligence rather than mechanical reliance.
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