Looking back on 2020 so far we find that it has mostly been a time of challenges, but we have also achieved so much. During the lockdown in spring, we had many clients who put their projects on hold which naturally eased our workload. We decided to use the spare time to focus on the projects at hand, competitions and other ideas we had on the back burner. Two particular jobs we focused on were the works on Gustav Café & Bistro and ‘Movement’ – a call for monumental art works for the Marsa Junction Project, issued by Infrastructure Malta in collaboration with Spazju Kreattiv.
By the time the island shifted into lockdown, our design proposal for Gustav had been concluded and accepted, and we were already on the works stage. Given the various personal situations a number of roles were shifted to avoid exposing vulnerable relatives as much as possible; we held daily meetings through video conferencing with the team as well as with clients and, in cases like Gustav, a designated team member attended for site visits following all safety protocols.
On the other, working on projects such as ‘Movement’ proved to be easier than coordinating site works. All the team was hands on deck, each individual had a specific task to be complete digitally. Group video conferences between the entire team or smaller groups provided as many virtual boardrooms as we needed, and an efficient data sharing system created an office system which mimicked our physical studio but on a whole new level.
At the end we prepared three proposals to be submitted with Infrastructure Malta, one of which, Sema, was a winning submission, and N(h)ar was chosen for later consideration for the landscaped areas of other ongoing and future infrastructure projects in Malta, such as the Santa Lucija Roundabout Underpass Project, the Central Link Project, the Luqa Junction Project and the Msida Creek Project.
