Valletta’s Revamped Kiosks Finally Open Their Doors And People Are Not Impressed
Evolution of a Valletta kiosk: The old kiosks on the left have been replaced by the ones on the right
After several months in the pipeline, the new food kiosks at Valletta’s revamped Triton Square have opened to quite an inauspicious start.
The ‘container’ like wooden kiosks are run by the same people who used to own the shack-like kiosks that used to surround City Gate before they had to be pulled down as part of the Triton Square project.
And their wares do not appear to have changed much; they are still selling basic grocery and confectionary items, only in a more neatly organised manner than they used to.
However, debate over the kiosks has been predominated by their design ever since they were unveiled a few months ago, and that hasn’t changed now that they have opened their doors.
Indeed, several people took to social media to lament the kiosks’ designs, describing them as tasteless, tacky, bland, primitive and uncultured.
Others pitched in with their own kiosk design ideas.
While others seemed baffled that the authorities couldn’t have found a more capable Maltese architect
While others just saw the funny side of things.
The kiosks were designed and manufactured by Microarquitectura SL, a Barcelona-based company specialising in urban kiosk design. The Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, which oversaw the Triton Square project, paid the Spanish company over €400,000 for its work on the kiosks.