White Rocks: Architect calls for protection of ‘modernist’ architecture

“The Bahar ic-Caghaq army married quarters… have a simple dignity which makes them stand out, not only among other military buildings, as a group that pays careful attention to the landscape. Especially when looked at from the seaward side, this is a project of taste and quality.”

This is the description given by Architecture Review – the leading global journal in architecture – back in 1969 to the married quarters at Bahar ic-Caghaq.

Architect Edward Said today describes the presently abandoned building as “Malta’s most important modernist monument” and is calling on the government to identify those buildings located in the area which are worthy of protection before allowing any development there.

He makes his appeal in light of the government’s recent issue of an international call for expressions of interest for development proposals on 45 hectares of land, which include the existing buildings and surrounding agricultural land and garigue.

The architectural value of the existing buildings is recognised by the White Rocks Development brief issued in 1995, which still governs development in the area. 

The brief, which has never been withdrawn states that “the existing complex is considered to be a good example of 1960’s development and the future owners will be encouraged to retain some, if not all of the existing buildings”. 

The MEPA recently confirmed that the brief is still legally valid but the government has not excluded issuing a new brief after receiving proposals made by developers. 

Moreover while the brief covered 36.9 hectares, the government has identified 45 hectares of land.

The 1995 brief stipulated that only Zone 1, consisting of the existing buildings (including some structures built in the 1980s), was to be released for development. This barely covers 31% of the present site.

Architect demands full protection, not lip service

According to architect Said, keeping one of the buildings or facades to pay lip service to conservation would not make any sense. He describes the complex “as the serial regimentation of the rows and blocks positioned along the slope, now enhanced by mature Aleppo pines”, and argues it “is an entire composition not to be mutilated”.

But some constructions added in the 1980s may be demolished. He also insists that the surrounding landscape, which gives the building a context, must also be protected.

“Any new project should be integrated around the building and its context and not vice-versa”, he argues.

In fact the architectural value of the building derives from the way it blends with the surrounding landscape. Changing the landscape would inevitably devalue the building’s importance. 

Said had expressed similar concerns in an article penned in The Architect - the journal published by the Kamra tal-Periti - in 2010 when the previous administration proposed a sports village in the same area.

The White Rocks story

The complex, designed by the British architectural consortium Austin-Smith, Salmon and Lord Partnership, comprises a series of clusters of three-storey apartment blocks rising above low-rise dwelling units.

The married quarters was the last military barracks built by the British services in Malta.

Following the closure of the British military base in 1979, the complex was for a time referred to as the White Rocks complex and served as self-catering apartments for tourists.

Although the buildings were subjected to acts of vandalism after the tourist facility was closed down, the building cluster can still be restored to its former glory, Said contends.

“It is clearly visible that they still maintain that structural integrity with which the British administration constructed their buildings in Malta through their high standards”.

He notes that apart from patches of spalling concrete, much of the structures still stand strong and the beautifully patinated stonework of the outer skins is still pristine.

He also notes that the government has undertaken restoration works on much older and decayed buildings and that restoring the fabric of the Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq barracks should be quite easy.

Modernist buildings protected

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority has not scheduled the White Rocks buildings but other modernist buildings have been scheduled by it in the past.

These include three bus shelters in Hamrun, Marsa and Floriana, the Mount St Joseph retreat house in Mosta and Students House and the Chapel at the University of Malta.