Project Team: Steven Risiott, Patricia Risiott, Martin Grech & Noura Abdelhafidh
Photography: Alex Attard
The focus of this late noughties semi-detached villa conversion was the re-evaluation and exploitation of the site’s potential to adapt to the lifestyle of a young family of four. Establishing connections with the surrounding gardens whilst ensuring that light penetrates through the full depth of the property.
Visual and spatial boundaries were broken down through a series of interventions. External walls were punctured with a rhythm of vertically proportioned modular apertures to illuminate the interior spaces whilst exploiting views and improving the visual connection onto the surrounding terraces. A sunken courtyard between the elevated dining terrace and the lower pool deck was bridged over by a wide, open riser staircase spanning between two fin walls improving the physical and visual connection between the two spaces whilst allowing the afternoon sun to infiltrate through the steps and in turn illuminate the courtyard below. Internally, dividing walls in the living areas were torn down, winding corridors were reconfigured and shortened, spaces were reimagined to look out towards the gardens and views beyond. Where partitions were added, these were in the form of translucent or glass screens to allow light to transition between one space and another.
An existing decorative band which wrapped around the building was reimagined as a projecting plane. Along the front façade, this plane seeks to unify the otherwise fragmented volumes, returning to the ground in the form of a fin wall to frame the main entrance to the building. Towards its rear end, the projecting plane extends to form a louvered canopy hovering above the dining terrace. The canopy comes to life through a play of shadows that stretch over the walls and into the living areas in the winter then retracting sharply to provide complete shade on the hottest summer days when the sun is at its highest altitude. The louvered canopy partly cantilevers at its outermost corner to frame far reaching country views over the island’s greener northern region.
