When architect Renzo Piano unveiled designs for a new-look City Gate four years ago, the plan was to transform the old opera house site into an open-air performance space in summer, and a square for the other seasons.
Forming part of the €80 million City Gate project, Pjazza Teatru Rjal was officially inaugurated last Thursday. But how much does it live up to its name as a square?
When The Sunday Times of Malta visited the site yesterday, the pjazza was closed. Even if it were open, it was clear that the cluster of 900 green seats surrounded by an alignment of steel masts and columns would not leave much space for wandering about.
Chris Paris, CEO of Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, responsible for the City Gate project, said the original concept of Piano’s square was still applicable.
“It can be turned into a pjazza any time,” he said. “The 900 seats are easily removable and there is even storage allocated for them. But now it depends on the management.”
From last Thursday, the operation of the site was handed over to St James Foundation Centre for Creativity. Chairman Rupert Cefai told The Sunday Times of Malta that no decision had yet been taken on removing the seats, which would expose a shallow stepped deck allowing people to walk around.
“At the moment, we’re considering all options and analysing how to use the space – no one has the expertise of how this will operate,” he said.
He added that the “complication” of removing the seats was one of the options, “but everything carries a cost”.
“It would be premature of me to make a commitment so big as to say whether the seats will be removed or not,” said Mr Cefai.
He said that as Pjazza Teatru Rjal has its “side boundaries” and was not an open square, pedestrian traffic did not automatically flow, and the foundation wanted to make sure there will be a number of activities that will attract people, even in winter.
“The Pjazza will be accessible to the public when there is no performance; however, we are still trying to find how to go about it,” he said, citing the problem of the security of stage equipment.
In an interview, Mr Piano had spoken enthusiastically about the theatre-cum-square. “I think this is going to be one of the most magic places in the Mediterranean,” he had said.
He had made several incognito visits to the site, prior to unveiling his plans, each time walking around the city and absorbing the site from different angles and coming up with the idea of “open air opera”.
“We keep the soul of the opera house. We keep the soul of a public cultural building there,” Mr Piano had said.
The Pjazza officially opened on Thursday with a concert by the European Union Youth Orchestra. Missing from the 2009 plans were the wall-to-wall sound acoustic panels in place.
Mr Paris said the panels were not under his budget remit.
“We put in place a standard set-up, with which you could create the acoustics you want,” he said, adding that even Milan’s La Scala acoustics could be reproduced on the opera house site. “But it is now up to the operator,” he said.
The change in government had rekindled hopes among critics waning to see the site usage changed.
However, Culture Parliamentary Secretary Jose Herrera said the Government had decided to leave the Piano designs untouched and was therefore not planning a roof for the theatre.