The viewscapes of the Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery : values and challenges

Abstract

The term “skyline” refers to any vertical profile on a horizon that can be made up of any significant structure, natural or manmade, that can be defined against the horizon. The Santa Maria Addolorata cemetery can be said to have an important skyline that reflects the architect’s design. But how effectively are the views and vistas of the Santa Maria Addolorata cemetery being safeguarded in today’s intensified building activity? With the focus of this study being to establish the values and vulnerabilities of the Addolorata cemetery skyline, the ideal building height limitations for future guidelines and policies were deduced. Using Geographical Information System (GIS) software and LIDAR data, various types of analysis were carried out for the immediate areas and localities around the cemetery, focusing mainly on Paola, Santa Lucia, Luqa, and Marsa. These analyses were first carried out for the existing building heights and then for the maximum permissible heights. A separate tentative analysis was also performed to predict the effects of the proposed Marsa Junction project on the views of the cemetery. Photographic surveys were performed on site prior the GIS analyses in order to select the view points and critical targetblocks used in the study, and to ground truth the results. It was found that the skyline is most vulnerable to visual impacts that may be caused by building height increases in the Marsa Industrial Estate and the Paola areas, whereas the other areas considered do not pose the same threat of visual impact, as long as the present height limitations are maintained and respected. A further purpose of the study was to identify the characteristics and limitations of each tool that was used. Finally, various recommendations were given to better safeguard the skyline of the cemetery. Firstly, it was recommended that, for future guidelines, the land topography and skyline inclination should be considered. A further recommendation is to extend the present study to a wider area and to similar vulnerable skylines.