Naxxar House
Located within the locality of Naxxar, distinguishable by its architectural heritage value, the project comprises the refurbishment and extension of an existing 18th century palazzino. The property has found itself just outside the perimeter of the designated Urban Conservation Area, leading to recent higher apartment block developments arising in the immediate vicinity of the property, thus dwarfing the low-rise residence and overlooking the garden of the property. The proposed interventions are in response to the family’s programmatic requirements and intentions towards the house, with a special sensitivity to the existing memory of the place and also the context it sits in. The brief therefore included the design of a screen wall on the façade to provide privacy to the terrace behind it and the garden below where a pool is to be located; in addition to the reconfiguration of existing rooms within the main house and improved connections to the gardens. Originally a farm building used to shelter animals, the single-storey loggia flanking the main garden is transformed into the main living space, connecting the main house to the outdoor dining space, seating area and pool. A second garden room is converted into a guest studio. The fixed stone privacy screen is conceived as a contemporary extension to the existing facade, unified with the original fabric by a common material – the Maltese softstone (franka). This enabled the use of traditional construction methods and techniques to sculpt the undulating fins of the screen, thus engaging with the past and future to make it recognisable as an innovative contemporary addition that will form its own patina with time. The change in angle and spacing of the fins allow for the privacy required from third parties overlooking the gardens, but also for a play of light and shade on the solidity of the façade, without breaking up the legibility of the volume. Dominated by its old stone walls and Mediterranean fruit trees, the pool garden is designed as an elegant multi-tiered landscape, characterised by an assembly of horizontal and vertical stone planes that appear to emerge out of the existing garden. In this way, together with the privacy screen, a delicate contemporary architectural vocabulary is introduced that is harmonious with the traditional local Mediterranean setting of the existing residence.
