Buddha Bar In Armier Given The Red Light By Heritage Superintendence Over ‘Visual Clutter’
Plans to turn Baia Beach Club in Armier into a Buddha Bar were rejected by the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage (SCH) for creating “visual clutter.”
The Baia Beach club in Armier had plans to transform into a Buddha bar, complete with new sunbathing facilities and a rooftop restaurant.
However, these plans have been rejected by the heritage watchdog, Malta Today reported. The beach bar is situated on a concrete platform near the notorious Armier “boathouses” and the historic Torri ta’ l-Armier Redoubt.
After reviewing photomontages provided by the developer, the SCH expressed concerns that the proposed development would further encroach upon the Torri ta’ l-Armier Redoubt, resulting in visual clutter.
The SCH concluded that the development is not acceptable in principle as it would negatively impact the scheduled Redoubt and its visual connection to the sea.
In a Project Development Statement submitted last year, the developers expressed their intention to upgrade the beach club’s design and service quality to create a serene atmosphere based on an international concept.
The aim was to adopt the Buddha Bar franchise, blending fusion cuisine and a unique music atmosphere to provide customers with an exceptional experience. This would require a complete makeover of the beach club’s interior ambience and design.
The Buddha Bar is a bar, restaurant, and hotel franchise created by French-Romanian restaurateur Raymond Vișan, with its original location having opened in Paris, France in 1996.
The Buddha Bar became popular in part because of the DJ’s choice of eclectic, avant-garde music. It became known internationally for issuing the Buddha Bar compilation albums, which are popular compilations of lounge, chill-out music and world music, also under the Buddha Bar brand, released by George V Records.
The original restaurant is a Buddha-themed “upscale bar-restaurant with an orientalist ‘lounge’ ambience” serving Asian cuisine, with a two-story dining area dominated by a large statue of Buddha, and an upstairs bar in the form of a large, ornate dragon.
Locations have since been opened in a number of other countries, although not without controversy arising from the theme.
According to the submitted plans, visitors would have the option of sunbathing on the concrete platform at sea level or moving to higher levels of the premises, where they could enjoy food and drink services.
The Environment and Resources Authority has issued a “no objection” to the proposed changes, as long as they are limited to the designated area and the concrete platform remains accessible to the public. The ERA also insists that any approved works should not hinder the future removal of the platform.
In 1999, the Planning Authority rejected an application to convert the concrete platform into a sun bed area due to policies safeguarding public access to the coastline.
However, this decision was overturned two years later by an appeals tribunal, with the condition that the first 4.5 meters from the shoreline remain free of obstructions and the government retains the right to remove the structure in any future beach rehabilitation project.
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