Massive interest in Piano designs exhibition

@ Antoine Vella

I am dead serious mate ! The Piano Parliament reminds me of Star Trek/ ET/Dr WHO movies... just damn ugly.. Who knows, maybe it will really fly and take off !!

Great!! We will have a city without a gate, a theatre without a roof and a parliament that seems to fly. What else? Will we have Beano and friends welcoming people to comics city? What a laugh? And the media is reporting that Maltese architects seem to be loving it.

One thousand persons going to see the exhibition every day does in fact imply "massive interest". At this rate, some 20 thousand - over 6% of the entire adult population - will have visited it by the time it closes.

Corinne Vella:

Yeah OK!!!

Do you think architects (or indeed anyone who is into a functional art) have a carte blanche when they design their projects?!!!

G.Camilleri

"Please, dear politicians do wake up you have a country and people's ambitions to take forward"

You forgot to tell them to smell the coffee (just being helpful).

Jonathan Farrugia

I can't make up my mind whether you're being sarcastic and funny or ...erm..dare i say it?...'serious'.

Overheard at the exhibition ' The entrance is so narrow we will be rubbing shoulders to enter Valletta'. Another expert stated that the open air theatre will become a rubbish dump.

In my opinion it is a terrific project , well researched , energy efficient and will do justice to our capital city. Magical indeed and the sooner we start the better.

Joe Fenech: "an architect transcribes the ideas that his clients put forward." Architects are not the equivalent of typists who take shorthand notes and present a typewritten transcript.

r sammut: Renzo Piano is one of UNESCO's goodwill ambassadors. It is UNESCO that draws up the World Heritage list. Now please explain why you think that UNESCO's ambassador is about to put a bomb under his own feet by planning a design that would knock Valletta off the World Heritage list.

Interest does not necessarily mean approval. When I went to see them, I heard mostly negative commernts.

Parliament house at the entrance of a city – purely totalitarian propaganda style which would have been favoured by the likes of Causescu. Plus why are we cluttering the entrance of city gate?? We need to pull down buildings not add more! A massive piazza with water jets and trees would have highlighted the entrance. Piano is not to blame. After all an architect transcribes the ideas that his clients put forward. One can see that Piano had to work within very narrow parameters and the essence of these projects was dictated by our taste deprived politicians. Besides which, Piano is not the most suitable person for an urban conversion project. Piano is more of a building architect rather than an urban renewal architect. Our hit and miss politicians seem to have chosen Piano because he was the only famous architect they had ever heard of! Look at what France, a country with a vision, can do! Now THAT's urban conversion! http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Antigone_nuit_02_.jpg All this fuss is becuase: Malta QATT ma rajna xejn! Piano is only ONE of hundreds of world famous architects.

Hello Government The country other priorities at the moment How about roads maintenance given the new higher annual vehicle licence fees (TAXES). The state of certain roads such as the Targa Gap road going to Burmarrad is precaurious. It is patched with concrete and also has pot holes. Is this acceptable for an EU country??? The citizens want these day to day inconveniences to be sorted. However, the PARTIT NAZZJONALABURISTA is proposing a new Parliament for its own purposes and conveniences Please, dear politicians do wake up you have a country and people's ambitions to take forward. Do manage in the true interest of the country!!

The Valletta Projects are really a MASTERPIECE.

@rsammut A world class architect is going to embellish a world heritage city. How could our city possibly be downgraded by this??

Various comments spread among the Piano’s designs articles/letters, express unhappiness about such work being implemented on our World Class Heritage City. The other big question which was raised by a yesterday’s letter in the Times; would Valletta be struck off from being a WCH after these ultra modern developments? http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090701/letters/vallettas-world-heritage-site-status Also congrat for the production Chris Farrugia

Da x'survey hu Ray Mangion? Mela qbadt taghmel it-telefonati int? U hallina tridx? Din li kulhadd jizzattat u jipprova juri li jifhem tkiddni wisq. Mela l-periti favur u dawk jifhmu, John Attard Montalto favur, Din l-Art Helwa Favur, il-PN favur, l-Alternattiva favur, imbad issib erba' min-nies, skuzawni 82%, li jridu jkissru pjan. Ejja ha mmexxu!!

@Ray Mangion I don't agree with having an open space in Freedom Square because historically the entrace to Valletta was built. Also I think that people meet up at a "square" whilst Freedom Square is just a place people pass by on the way to doing their business. I like Renzo Piano's plan for Parliament.

I have no qualms with a Parliament in Freedom Square. I visited the exhibition yesterday and the way it has been designs shows an architectural continuation from St. James' Cavalier. I personally agree with land-use being Parliament but that's a personal opinion.

4,194 is about 1.5% of the whole Maltese population. I just would not call 1.5% a Massive interest, but rather a bit of interest. Just to show how interested the Maltese people are in this project.

@ Paul Sciberras

What ? Opinion ta' Cikku l-Poplu ! We are not talking about the rahal's playing field ( two swings or one, zurzieqa etc etc ). Well done to this great project, which I have already commented to being almost 100 % perfect. Almost, because the Parliament building could have done easily without a block of ' case popolare ' in front of it. Tenants there should have been offered a decent alternative residence, preferably in Valletta so that Mr Piano could have had the opportunity to complete his masterpiece.

I'm afraid that we shall be losing this golden oppurtunity and build that alien parliament... Oh Come on ! It looks completely out of place with both the area and the architecture. I would certainly prefer paved open space as I described earlier with fortifications clearly visible and area humming with much needed tourist activity. How's that for a tourist attraction ?

@ Paul Sciberras
Quite right Paul, a lot of people visited but so far no count of their opinion. I made my own survey albeit 150 people and 82% commented that the plans were beautifully presented but not at all happy with them. Only 3 % were non committal, and 15% were in favour.
@Jonathan Farrugia
No you are not on your own Jonathan. Having read comments from all the papers, a lot of people agree with you. I wish the Prime Minister read my Recommendations in my Dissertation, which includes the whole area. I recommended the Opera House re-built with a touch of modern architecture, the arches changed into round marble with Designer shops underneath and the Square, with a beautiful large Romanesque Fountain with Dolceria and coffee businesses around the square. I also suggested auditioned Street theatre. Now that is what Valletta needs and it also compliments the rest of the city. As far as City Gate is concerned, I made that entrance into a modern Tri Glass Pyramids where Art Exhibitions and other that can utilize the space in line with our Cultured mindset.

@ Chris Farrugia - excelelnt piece of work! Well done and thanks for sharing.

@jonathan farrugia - no, you are not the only one, there's at least 2 of us that are hungry for some open spaces, which abound in other european cities, but which are lacking in malta.

Parliament looking like a spaceship from Mars, well, about time that the MP's get their feet back to the ground...

After this said massive interest on this design,what about a survey of opinion of cikku l poplu.

I hope I am not the only one by suggesting that the parlament looks like an alien super UFO who has just landed from its journey from Mars... lets take this oppurtunity and turn freedom square into a typical european city square, paved in the same manner like republic street and in the middle, a grand monument to the knights of Malta depicting their victory over the ottomans ( aka lord Nelson type monument in trafalgar square but with our La Vallette towering over the city with his famous sword by his side ).

Mr. Chris Farrugia,
Prosit Tassew

@Chris Farrugia

Prosit tal-photosyhnt siehbi ghamilt bicca xoghol tajba!!! Ha nifforwardjaha lil shabi.

I've created a Photosynth of the Renzo Piano Exhibition here - http://www.chrisfarrugia.net/photosynths/renzo-piano-valletta-citygate.html - check it out