AP Archtecture Project - Palazzo Mora -

The Rabbit-Duck Illusion –
The holes are not what they seem.
“The individual has manifold shadows, all of which resemble him, and from
the need of populations and environments. Architecture reaches outside “the ordinary emotions of life’’.
Architecture is a choice. Its existence is a manifestation of the potential of preserving, adapting, mutating, or simply appreciating the existing.
Architecture is also void, uncertainty. It is ineffable and ephemeral.
Architecture is challenging. The actors and participants of this noble, mil- lennial activity must dig deeper below the surface, its cosmetic and some- times lucrative immediacy. The recognition and affirmation of its political place will help fight the archaic conception of Architecture as a sole Mon- ument, a mausoleum to creativity.
The confines of an island-state are defined, but potential is limitless, both in its reach and in its destructive power. On an island that has embraced (over) development, the consequence of a thriving modern economy, Archi- tecture is very often on the frontline; dressed against speculation and uncouth constructions.
Locally, therefore, Architecture is in need of a (re-)think, an exploration of its expressions and innate interrogations, its manifold shadows. Not a soul searching or a somewhat post-mortem justification, but more a laboratory, a field of experimentation and research, an unlimited inquiry into the con- temporary paradigms that lay claim on the discipline from time to time. Architecture needs consciousness to maintain its specificity as social art.
Architecture is, finally, confrontation of itself with its context, a curated impromptu between a structured rendition and a poetic metaphor.
time to time have equal claim to the man himself”
Architecture is an extension of Man.
— Kierkegaard
It is, undoubtedly. In its forms, its missions, its visions or rejections. And yet, to paraphrase Protagoras, it is what it is, and it is not what it is not. Like Man, it is multifaceted, like a ball of glass or the eye of a fly, and each facet lays claim on Architecture from time to time.
Architecture is what surrounds most of us, more and more in an urbanised environment, not the least in Malta. It is a trace in time and in space. It marks, and in many ways defines, our existence. Through its most familiar manifestations, yet also through the most mediated ones, we acquire an understanding of architecture, but one that does not include its function as container of organic memory.
Architecture is humanist. In its unmediated and mostly inconspicuous pro- cesses, it belongs to the Assembly of Man. It therefore has hope embedded in it, hope to build a better, more encompassing future, regardless of mer- cantile considerations. Architecture has the power to catalyse change on all scales, from neighbourhoods through to cities and to entire continents.
Architecture requires commitment, a dedication to ensuring that its social programme survives and continues to strive despite the emergence of a plethora of short-sighted alternatives. Beyond an exercise in style, and more than a collection of statistics and other figures, it is an answer to