© Michel Denancé
Patterns created by weathering on Valletta’s mighty fortification walls provided Renzo Piano with the inspiration for the limestone facades of Malta’s new Parliament Building. At the edges of the building the external walls are smooth but the inner surfaces have a relief-like sculptural texture, unusual for natural stone. It seems random and natural but in fact obeys the laws of geometry. All the facades are based on a module measuring 100 by 50 cm.
From the smooth, outermost plane the relief recedes inwards in 4 steps, each 12 cm deep, where it is finally interrupted by the glazing. The facade pat- terns make the function of the spaces behind them legible: for instance small triangular areas of pattern indicate lounges in the corners of the building, below the otherwise windowless plenary chamber, whereas there are office spaces behind the facades with a regular, continuous texture. Diamondshaped nibs that resemble beam-ends distorted in perspective project at an angle out of the depressions. Not just ornamental, they also shade the areas of glazing behind.
From the smooth, outermost plane the relief recedes inwards in 4 steps, each 12 cm deep, where it is finally interrupted by the glazing. The facade pat- terns make the function of the spaces behind them legible: for instance small triangular areas of pattern indicate lounges in the corners of the building, below the otherwise windowless plenary chamber, whereas there are office spaces behind the facades with a regular, continuous texture. Diamondshaped nibs that resemble beam-ends distorted in perspective project at an angle out of the depressions. Not just ornamental, they also shade the areas of glazing behind.