The clients bought an odd, triangular house in Mosta - a busy, inland, Maltese town - with a large back garden. They wanted a compact, three bedroom house, retaining as much garden as possible.
With 150 square metres internal space and a 150 square metre garden, the scheme attempts to minimise the edge between inside and outside: a challenging notion on an island where the summer heat is most unwelcome indoors.
While retaining the street façade and the original 'gatehouse' structure, the old house was demolished and a long, south-facing, reinforced wall was erected - 4m offset from one of the party walls - with a courtyard on one end and a pool on the other. This gave the living area the mood of a pavilion in a garden, rather than an enclosed room, an attitude which was then interpreted to the other rooms, all apertures and finishes.
Sliding doors internally disappear when open and pack externally on the façade. The 'pavilion wall’ is clad with a 14m long cantilevered steel staircase, creating alternative access to the bedrooms and the roof, generating individual units in a garden rather than conventional bedrooms in a house. Aluminium louvers protect the house from the summer sun whilst allowing in the winter rays.
The small pool gently slides into the living space, bringing in dancing reflections of light by day and by night. A small, internal flight of steps sits under a 3m skylight and becomes a playful sundial.
The kitchen top is at the same level as the entry courtyard. The backsplash is a frameless glass that blurs the kitchen top from the courtyard paving.
Natural, outdoor materials are mirrored on the interiors: marine pebbles, rough concrete ceilings and crude limestone walls all make their way into the public and private areas.
The clients moved in on the 1st of July 2005 and the air-conditioners have been rarely switched on. With the balmy, cool feeling of being in a garden whilst indoors, the house proved to be a successful climatic design, on both physical and psychosomatic grounds.
