00:01I was looking for a period home in an urban conservation area.
00:05Before I bought the flat, it had been vacant for over 20 years.
00:09What struck me immediately about the place was the sheer amount of light.
00:14I saw the potential for very small interventions to make a really big difference.
00:20The flat was mostly empty except for some pieces of furniture left behind by the previous residents,
00:26a few of which I decided to keep.
00:29The high ceilings and the fact that it's on the top floor meant that I could make a very small
00:34flat feel very bright and spacious.
00:37My name is Lucia, I'm Maltese and I'm an architect.
00:41I'm currently working and studying in Dublin,
00:45but I'm lucky to have had various friends living in the flat since I've been away.
00:56The apartment is located in the fortified city of Cospicua.
01:01It's on the little island of Malta in the middle of the Mediterranean.
01:06Bormla is one of the island's historic three cities across from Valletta, Malta's capital city.
01:11Narrow streets lead down to the sea on either side.
01:17The building itself, it's a post-war infill block built around the 1950s and it's always been residential.
01:26I loved the block coloured cement tiles found in buildings of this era.
01:32The kitchen had been built inside a very narrow corridor at the back of the flat.
01:37This arrangement limited the light that could otherwise reach well into the floor plan of the building.
01:43I widened the three doorways that connected the kitchen, living and dining rooms, turning them into one large single space.
01:50I enlarged the bathroom by moving the toilet and sink out of the little room and converted the original toilet
01:56room to a large shower.
01:58I widened the entrance to the bedroom and I moved the original double doors between the living and dining room
02:03to this room.
02:09The front door opens directly into the open plan kitchen, living and dining area.
02:15I have a little side table by the front door for dropping my keys and little bits.
02:20And I can hang a coat or two on the back of the front door.
02:26I designed a bespoke kitchen of low oak cabinets and Carrara marble countertops to sit within the original volume of
02:33the kitchen.
02:34I lowered the windowsill right down to the countertop so that the marble can extend right towards the frames.
02:41The result is that your eyes are really drawn out towards the view of the city.
02:47For the walls, I simply whitewash them to express the natural, more three-dimensional surface of the stone.
02:57The kitchen is compact, but it still feels very comfortable.
03:01The induction hub, oven, dishwasher and sink are all built into the lower kitchen cabinets and are within reach of
03:09each other.
03:13The high steel shelving between the kitchen and living room is really about giving the kitchen a bit more of
03:18a sense of enclosure,
03:20without actually closing it off.
03:23And at the same time, it draws your eye upwards, really accentuating the height of the space.
03:32I also integrated some open shelving on the other side of this cabinet,
03:36in a space that would have otherwise been inaccessible from the kitchen.
03:39The marble countertop was extended to include an overhang so that it provides a nice breakfast bar or additional working
03:46space.
03:48The kitchen extends into a dining area with bespoke full-height cupboards that provides very generous storage space.
03:55There's a built-in fridge and freezer, a pantry and a washer-dryer.
04:00Towels, linens, cleaning supplies, even a ladder are all hidden behind the tall minimal doors of this unit.
04:09Another key move, which was a real headache, but I'm so pleased I did it, was shifting the tile border
04:15into the space.
04:18Having that border visible makes it feel like the cupboards aren't encroaching in that space.
04:25I struggled to find a small enough table for a while, until a new neighbour ended the building.
04:31She had had the skip organised and was getting rid of everything in her flat.
04:35I walked down the stairs past her flat, and I saw these chrome legs through the door.
04:41She was really happy to oblige, and I was so pleased to have saved another item of furniture from the
04:47same building.
04:50The alterations in this section of the flat have really transformed the space into a comfortable living area
04:57that now has access to the large windows that overlook Bormla's urban setting.
05:03The glass cabinet was in the same place the first time I walked into the flat.
05:09It has obviously been given a good clean before I filled it with books, vases and picture frames.
05:17The mid-century coffee table was a gift from a friend, and it really ties in well with the glass
05:21cabinet.
05:25I specifically chose to invest in a sofa bed to be able to have guest sofa.
05:32I also installed a minimal suspended track light above the sofa.
05:36The suspended track also allowed me to bypass the exposed steel beams that run in the perpendicular direction.
05:43Where walls were removed, I used reclaimed white cement tiles from another property of a similar age.
05:50The colour of the cement tiles obviously varies, but I do like that they leave a trace of the original
05:55position of the walls.
05:58The two windows in the living room and kitchen were originally about 1.2 metres off the ground.
06:05So I lowered the window sills right down to really emphasise the view from the sitting area.
06:12The proportions of the window and the aluminium frames here mimic that of a typical Maltese balcony, making the space
06:19feel almost like an outdoor terrace.
06:28Both the bathroom and overhead storage are concealed behind a large bespoke oak veneered door that ties in with the
06:34lower kitchen cabinets across the corridor.
06:35The large storage space is ideal for suitcases and off-season clothing.
06:43The door is designed to feel like another piece of fitted furniture, with concealed hinges and a single continuous finger
06:50pull groove.
06:53A toilet was originally positioned inside what is now the shower.
06:57I brought the toilet and sink out and expanded the size of the bathroom as far as I could.
07:03The back wall of the bathroom is built out to conceal the plumbing and mixers of the toilet, sink and
07:08shower.
07:10There's a lovely little window in the shower with a view of Bormla's urban rooftops.
07:15I used the white tiles to unify the two rooms and really put emphasis in the blue ceiling.
07:23A bespoke fitted mirror cabinet was added flush with this wall and it forms a shallow shelf below.
07:35In the corridor there was so much congestion of electric conduit that I decided to install a soffit.
07:41But here I introduced a shadow gap along either side to demarcate the new material.
07:50The bedroom is at the end of the corridor.
07:53I widened the door opening to fit the wooden double doors that were originally positioned between the living and dining
07:59room.
08:01I thought the proportions of this space were lovely so I didn't need to do very much here.
08:08Sleeping in this room feels as if I'm in some luxurious old palace.
08:13I also kept the original furniture because I thought it had so much character.
08:22The balcony was half blocked up because there was no floor slab.
08:25I was also so pleased to find the balcony railing that had been kept inside the flat.
08:31I reconstructed the floor slab and reinstated the original railing.
08:37It's also an ideal spot to sit and drink coffee in the morning.
08:42The low evening sun shines through the balcony doors deep into the bedroom.
08:50Working as an architect in Malta, at least in my experience, your interventions inevitably enter into dialogue with rich architectural
08:58and cultural heritage.
08:59And we are extremely lucky in this regard.
09:02In my case, converting a smaller space in such a historic part of the Grand Harbour offered me the opportunity
09:09to live in a beautiful and extremely historically rich urban setting.
09:14And enjoy higher ceilings, brighter living spaces, while still being so close to the sea.
09:19Asunder.
09:24The 50th door.
09:28Which was a greatale for me.
09:38Asides of the New York City.
09:40In the darkroom.
09:45Theoney UnpluggedŘłă.
09:46The ě¸ expressiveness is a greatale for me.
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