The latest intervention on Villa Castro is seen as yet
another addition to the history of the circa three-century-old building,
"albeit a very important one," notes Konrad Buhagiar, the
Architecture Project (AP) partner behind the venture. The refurbished project
is the result of an intense seven years of dedication.
The words 'new' and 'old'
are both infused with connotations of time, and the fact that they are somehow
linked through the embodiment of a building brings to the surface a curious
question on chronology.
Buhagiar highlighted the fact that the new addition to the
building will embellish it with a new form and spirit whilst respecting the old
fabric and qualities of the existing space. While on the one hand it is
designed to contrast with the structure by using different materials, such as
glass and timber, it will also eventually be homogenised in time.
"It is envisaged
that, with time, the timber will weather and acquire a patina, creating a
harmonious composition with the old walls. So time is also an element of the
composition - it lies latent on the old walls and dormant in the new
ones," said Buhagiar.
While there are many other aspects to the project that are
equally important, Bruenslow also believes that time has played an important
role in a variety of ways. "For one, a lot of time was spent on the
project, which was developed over several years and underwent several changes
and adjustments over time," he said. The project was carried out between
2009 and 2016. "One of the big challenges was to retain the homogeneity,
which required stamina, belief and discipline."
Architect Jens Bruenslow,
who collaborated for the project, went on to list other factors of time which
have an impact on the building. "There are different times of the day when
the light changes the feel and appearance of the house radically -it's almost
like a sun dial," he said. "Then there is the way the house - with
its old and new parts - will weather harmoniously and the materials, their
connections and details, have been chosen and considered with that in mind. And
then there is the bigger picture of how the house sits in time. It has its own
history, of course, and has seen many changes in the past - both in itself as
well as in its surroundings - and now another chapter has been added to its
history."
"One could maybe apply Christopher Alexander's proposal
from the opening of his book 'The timeless way of building' in which he says
that "It is a process which brings order out of nothing but ourselves; it
cannot be attained, but will happen of its own accord, if we will only let
it." Naturally, "ourselves", in this case, does not refer to an
individual, but to our history and experience and the fabric which surrounds
us. So therefore, in this project, the volumes, the proportions and the
materiality of the existing building determined the principles of how old and
new would meet, connect and relate, and how, nonetheless, the new part would
still be recognizable as a body of its time."
Finding the old
Why the villa was named
'Villa Castro' is still not clear: it is not known whether it is somehow linked
by name to its original owners. However, the word 'castro' refers to a
fortified village and that could be relevant, considering the villa's position
in connection with a fortification network.
In the second half of the
17th century, many Maltese migrated from the harbour area due
to the exhaustion of the building stock of the new city of Valletta. This
migration expanded what was the original Naxxar settlement and it is understood
that the house, at the edge of the original settlement, was most likely built
in the 18th century. Later additions were made in the 19th century.
The architectural style of the building is plain and unadorned, with a façade
not as imposing as the traditional town houses built in the same period. It was
discovered that the garden of the house was located over an extensive network
of large water cisterns with a wellhead located at the entrance of the house.
The presence of stone water channels on the perimeter of the planted areas is
witness to traditional irrigation practices.
Blending in the new
The programme of the
project was organised around the needs of the family, with guestrooms to
accommodate relatives and friends. The garden and two internal courtyards were
preserved. An extension was designed and grafted on one of the boundary walls
to mitigate the negative visual impact of the recent adjacent block of
apartments.
The restoration of the
building included securing the dangerous parts, removing inserted structures
and accretions - which conflicted with the authentic organisation of space or with
the clarity of architectural form, the re-opening of blocked arches and the
introduction of a few additional openings in order to allow more light in and
to strengthen the symmetry of the garden and courtyard facades.
The stone water channels
were preserved and reinstalled around the planted garden area. The garden
pavement was made out of the old stone slabs which were found on the site,
restored and re-laid.
The ground floor was left
for living and entertainment. In order to identify the boundary between indoor
and outdoor living, one of the smaller courtyards was roofed over and turned
into a conservatory. The upper floor is dedicated to individual bedrooms. An
external access balcony was added, replacing an existing open balcony that was
probably introduced during the second half of the 20th century
and a new stairwell designed in contemporary style was installed in an existing
backyard.
A new extension was built overlooking the garden to provide
accommodation for guests and screen off the new development. Thus is raised
over the ground on slender columns in order not to obstruct the cornices and
pilasters and the pediment of the gate that once led to the garden beyond.
In order to blend in with
the old building, screens made out of a specifically-chosen wood compliment the
new extension. Their function is twofold: they allow the maximum amount of
light to flow inside the house and also create a monolithic appearance from the
outside, to co-exist with the old building.
Over time, the American
cedar screens will acquire a natural protective patina of silvery grey that
blends in with the limestone surfaces of the old house. Like all projects that
involve the rehabilitation and extension of old buildings, time is an important
element of the composition from which the building is made and that important
element will unravel with time.
AP won the Transport
Category at the INSIDE festival with the Barrakka Lift in 2013 and has been
shortlisted before for other projects. Villa Castro was nominated for the 'New &
Old -Completed Buildings Category' award at this year's World Architecture
Festival 2017.
