Modern regionalism in the Mediterranean – Hans Munk Hansen’s Mellieħa Holiday Centre, Malta (1977–79)

Abstract

This paper will focus on the design of the Mellieħa Holiday Centre, Malta, which was designed by the Danish architect Hans Munk Hansen (1929–2021) and completed within two years (1977–1979). The project was undertaken by Dansk Folk-Ferie, a cooperative organization established by Danish Labour Unions in 1938, in collaboration with the Maltese General Workers’ Union (GWU). The main objective of the project was to create a tourist complex that would cater Danish workers’ families and provide them with the opportunity for an affordable overseas vacation. The main research question to be investigated in this paper is how this holiday complex interpreted within the framework of modern regionalist architecture acquired intrinsic qualities and attributes that have made it culturally-authentic, relevant, and timeless in its outlook. Other lines of inquiry will seek to contextualize this project within the broader Mediterranean context of modern regionalist projects during the 1970s and 1980s. The Mellieħa Holiday Centre will be analyzed as a product of Danish experimental forays in modern regionalism, in this case, Hans Munk Hansen acting as an interlocutor for Jørn Utzon (1918–2008) and his architectural concepts about single-family housing particularly the Kingo Houses estate at Helsingør (1957–1959) and Fredensborg (1963).