Valletta Green Festival 2021 announced
• Roof Garden at the Valletta Design Cluster officially opened
The Valletta Green Festival, the annual event which is synonymous with the Maltese Cultural Calendar, is being held during this weekend until Tuesday, 11 May. This is the largest edition since the festival started to be held.
The festival will this year be taking place across the city, starting at City Gate and spanning towards St George’s Square, where the main activities will be taking place.
This year’s infiorata is designed by local artist Zack Ritchie on the theme of Zero Pollution and features a colourful turtle inspired by this year’s European Green Week theme, Zero Pollution.
Details were announced at a press conference held at the Valletta Design Cluster Roof Garden which is now officially open and in full bloom.
The roof garden at the Valletta Design Cluster is a key component of the urban regeneration project that the Valletta Cultural Agency has been undertaking in the Baviera area of Valletta. This intervention introduces a new green lung in this part of the city, providing a new public space, freely accessible to all residents and visitors. The garden takes advantage of the lowlying nature of the Old Abattoir building on which it is situated and brings to fruition a long process of urban transformation centred on the needs of residents and future users of the Valletta Design Cluster.
The design of the garden itself originated from a multi-year relationship that the Valletta Cultural Agency and the Valletta 2018 Foundation before that, had with Japan-based architect Tetsuo Kondo, who was awarded the Japanese Young Architect of the Year in 2018 by the Japan Institute of Architects. Architect Kondo’s concept is centred on the idea of a green sanctuary or oasis, providing a space for renewal for both nature and people, within a highly urbanised but historically rich context. In fact, the design of the garden features small shrubs and trees of mostly local or Mediterranean origin, a small natural pool, small seating areas and a number of multi-functional spaces that can be used by students for workshops and other group sessions. A small, openable glass pavilion is also inserted in one of the roof areas, enabling the space to be used for small meetings and gatherings. These designs were brought to fruition by Doric Studio.
The roof garden is fully accessible via a lift linking the space to the ground floor and the central courtyard of the Valletta Design Cluster and is open to the public daily from 8am to 6pm.
Meanwhile, Valletta visitors are being welcomed by a temporary garden inspired by the formal gardens of the past at Freedom Square, in front of Parliament. Entrusted to the Garland Company, this City Gate Garden installation bears a classical layout that blends beautifully with Valletta’s elegant architecture and serves as an invitation to reflect on the importance of urban greening. It has been constructed using salvaged wood, a testament that abandoned materials may too be infused with a new life and purpose.
Indigenous trees including Pine, Myrtle and Bay Leaf will decorate De Valette Square. There will also be Cypress trees along Republic Street, Republic Square and St George’s Square and lemon and orange trees in Great Siege Square.
As part of the festival, which will be held in collaboration with the Ministry for National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government and the Ministry for Energy, Enterprise and Sustainable Development, the Environmental and Resources Authority will be reproducing a beehive made with a marine wood structure in St George’s Square. The aim of the installation is to stress the importance of pollination for biodiversity and how pollution impacts this process.
The Water be the change and Parks information points in St George’s Square will provide visitors with information while personnel will be able to answer any questions on protecting the environment and ways to reduce unnecessary water consumption and pollution.