Months of hard work bore fruit when fourth year architecture students were awarded the Tony Mifsud Architecture Award organised by the conservation and environment group, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar in conjunction with Professor Denis de Lucca, head of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Malta

Named after Tony Mifsud who, in the post-war rebuilding drive, was one of the few within the Public Works Department to battle to save the damaged old buildings of Valletta, rather than demolishing them, the award aims to sensitise Malta’s future architects to the particular needs of building in urban conservation areas. To this end, lectures are organised in subjects that the University Architecture students would not normally be exposed to in the course of their normal studies. This year’s edition of the award presented the students with the challenge of reconstructing a post-war building in Valletta, to be used as a library, media communications centre, fashion expo palace or an extra theatre space.

Since the aim of the award is to challenge students to find solutions for current problems, the students were also asked to submit proposals for the remodelling of Republic Street shop fronts, plans which this year’s award sponsor, Valletta Local Council, hopes to put to good use in the future.

All the students’ project work was on display for public viewing at St George’s Square Valletta, following which winning students Marcia Calleja, Mark Sullivan, Katia Pace, Francois Mangion and Paula Agius received their awards from HE the American Ambassador Douglas Kmiec who explained that the Awards reflect FAA’s commitment to promoting an appreciation of high quality, sustainable architecture, including modern architecture which, with the right sensitivity and interpretation can even harmonise with an old city like Valletta. The US Embassy is sponsoring these awards with a donation of books to the University Architecture Department.

Photo shows award winner Francois Mangion receives his award from US Ambassador Douglas Kmiec in the presence of FAA Trustees Sir Ian Laing and Tony Guillaumier.

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