Found in the middle of the tiny island of Gozo, this project falls within the site of the oldest free-standing building in the world. The brief for this project is to realize an interpretation center which can narrate the story of the earliest temples of the Megalithic Temples of Malta and facilitate circulation in the site which predates the pyramids in Egypt. The implicit brief however was perceived to be the preparation of a visitor to “experience Ggantija.” 

The Ggantija Temples are not “simply” rocks and cut stone assembled to form a place of worship. The placement within the environment also form part of what are “the temples.” The big, blue skies with the wisps of white. Comino laying low in the sea. The land beyond and the expanse of the within which the land is held. The gods adored and the devotion. The Temples have a big story to tell and such story is now 5000 years old. How does one seek to make such a tale accessible? 

We decided there is only one way: the visitor’s imagination must be fired so he can then hear the story that is whispered constantly around and within the temples. All we must seek to do is prime the visitor as best as we can so he can catch the story that is there. 

One approaches a building – the Interpretation Centre – that is concrete and steel in a shape that is, at the very least, strange, that encourages scrutiny. What is it? There are holes in the multi-faceted skin. Light goes in and light comes out. One gets snippets of what is inside the mind must join together to form a whole, to form an opinion. One steps through the doors into atall and narrow passage. The eyes are forced up to the high windows, to the light and the skies. The ego is suppressed, made to feel small within the blank, concrete walls, the eyes rising looking for escape perhaps sensing the gods of freedom beyond. The imagination is forced, through wonder, to engage. 

Outside, beyond the Centre, the trail that barely touches the ground, travels now towards the yet unseen temples, portals framing snippets of views, guiding the watcher as to what is important, taking him seemingly through time, back through the years, engaging the child within to dream of passing through time, slowly, till he can hear the whispers in the very air, feel the remaining spirits in procession, in reverence. 

And then, the Temple stands there and the story is already being told. There is silence but the visitor still hears it. He cannot explain the vague excitement, the reverence in his depths. He feels the Temple. 

This is what we attempted to do. Hopefully, we have helped a few of the thousands of visitors descending on this glorious site engage so they may hear the whispers.