Signs of change in the Maltese built environment of the modern age : twentieth century cross-currents

Abstract

The Modern Movement in Europe can be suitably explained as the logical outcome of various forces of change the emergence of which can be traced back to the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. On one side there was the development of new materials, but more importantly there were the needs of a changing society which demanded diverse building typologies. Therefore, modernity should not be seen as a skin deep aesthetic solution which was capriciously detached from past traditions. Beyond the unornamented white walls, flat roofs and vast terraces of the 1920s modern dwelling, there was a logic which developed directly from the need to improve health and hygiene conditions which were lacking in the nineteenth century. The Modern Movement was also concerned with the aspirations of entire societies devastated by First World War. Unfortunately, political agendas prevented the Modern Movements' ideology to mature further, so that from the 1930s to the dawn of the Second World War, the modern movement was purposely stamped as a-historical. After this point, the Modern Movement crossed the Atlantic to the USA where it was transformed into an International Style, which was miles away from the 1920s search for an architectural expression emerging from the needs of a changing technologically advancing society.