Valletta’s Triton fountain will be encased in a huge new pedestrian piazza outside City Gate which will be accessed through a flight of wide steps, under plans by Renzo Piano currently being considered.
Approaching Valletta from near the Christ the King monument in Floriana, pedestrians would climb steps that lead to the level of the fountain’s base. From there they would enjoy a view of Republic Street, framed by the new entrance designed by the world-renowned architect.
“The fountain was conceived as a roundabout when it was first built. Mr Piano’s idea is to reinterpret the monument in a new piazza-like setting,” according to architect Konrad Buhagiar, whose firm Architectural Project is working with Mr Piano on City Gate’s regeneration.
The project would not impact the 1959 fountain by Vincent Apap, which is currently undergoing restoration, because the monument would be untouched.
“The raised level would sit on top of the fountain’s lower base and all the changes would be reversible,” Mr Buhagiar said.
Essentially, the new level would cover the part of the monument which is not clad in travertine marble.
Over the years, the view of bastions as one approaches the city was lost due to the alterations undertaken in the area outside Valletta. Mr Piano’s proposal would address this, Mr Buhagiar said.
The idea, which will now be discussed at a committee meeting in Parliament on Tuesday, is a compromise on the original proposal to move the fountain. The idea was scrapped at the end of 2011 following a public outcry and because of prohibitive costs.
Mr Piano had first proposed this solution to the previous government, and former Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt had referred the idea when he announced the monument would not be moved.
But the Malta Environment and Planning Authority did not respond favourably during informal consultations. And when the planning permit application was filed to pedestrianise City Gate square, the idea was ditched.
However, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister told The Sunday Times of Malta that Mr Piano’s proposal is being reconsidered. It follows a recent meeting in Paris on the project in which the Italian architect briefed Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
The new Labour Administration has lamented that the space inside the Parliament building does not offer enough facilities, such as committee rooms and offices for ministers.
But while a final decision still has to be taken on a solution to this problem, the Prime Minister himself quelled speculation that the new Parliament building could be converted to another use.
He said the building earmarked for the parliamentary chamber could not, “by any stretch of the imagination” be used for any other purpose.
Still, he said the Government intends launching a broad consultation on how the project should develop.
Mr Piano has been keen to deliver the project in the context of the wider regeneration of City Gate. Essentially, he had convinced former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi not to build the new Parliament on the site of the old Opera House but instead have it built on what was known as Freedom Square and redevelop the entrance in the process.
From then on, the project grew to incorporate an open-air theatre in the restored ruins of the Opera House, a public garden in St James Ditch, shifting the bus terminus next to the St John’s Bastions and finally turning the area outside the city into piazza.
mmicallef@timesofmalta.com