Starting next Monday until Sunday, the 18th of May, Valletta will host Hagra as part of Din l-Art Helwa’s 60th Anniversary celebrations. Hagra is a Festival dedicated to exploring the future of architecture in the Mediterranean Basin.

Against a backdrop of environmental, cultural, and social change, the festival invites architects, and the broader public to engage with the critical issues shaping our built environment today.

The Mediterranean has long been a site of exchange, innovation, and resilience. Yet the region now faces unprecedented challenges: the climate crisis, resource scarcity, political instability, rapid urban expansion, over-tourism, and the delicate balance between heritage, preservation and modernisation. In this shifting landscape, architecture plays a vital role – both as a witness to change and as an agent of transformation.

DLH said that Hagra was made possible thanks to the backing of Din l-Art Helwa, and the generous sponsorship by JMV Building Solutions, The Farsons Foundation and Trident Park, as well as of Halmann Vella, and JCR Imports Limited. The support of AGM Group, Cuschieri Architects, the AX Group, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di La Valletta, and the Turkish Embassy in Malta is also acknowledged.

The focus of the Festival is the series of presentations by local and foreign architects with work in the Mediterranean region. Foreign architects will include Ian Ritchie, Emre Arolat (Turkey), Agnes Couvelas (Greece), Driss Kettani (Morocco), Elias and Yousef Anastas (Palestine), Guillermo Reynes (Spain), Corinne Vezzoni (France) and Maurizio Oddo (Italy). Local architects include Richard England, A Collective, AP Valletta, 3DM Architecture, and Valentino Architects). An exhibition of their work will be set up in the St.Elmo Examination Centre, where the talks will also be held.

It is planned that every evening will be concluded by round table discussions on key issues for architects in Malta, including the challenges of practice, the debate between re-purposing and demolition, refocusing on regionalism, the loss of heritage and understanding resources, the “island effect” and rethinking policy, and the future of Mediterranean architecture.

Another feature of the week will the the Official launch of the Malta Modernista campaign, which aims at highlighting the importance of preserving modernist architecture in Malta.

A final feature of the week will be a series of guided tours, including to the Frank Portelli Archives, Dar il-Hanin Samaritan, the Farsons Brewhouse and Trident Park, as well as the new reconstituted stone plant at Hal-Far.

Hagra Festival 2025 offers a unique opportunity to architects, students, heritage professionals, or members of the general public curious about the spaces we live in, to engage in a conversation on the future of our built environment and to imagine how architecture could meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.

More information and tickets are available at www.hagra.info

Photo: Exec.President Patrick Calleja receiving sponsorship from Mr.Louis Farrugia, Farsons Foundation, and Mr.Chalres Xuereb Trident Park, with Mr Michael Farrugia in attendance

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