The Island of the Maltese archipelago Comino present a very arid landscape mainly composed with scrubland and rocks. This protected site holds very few inhabitants during the year and becomes touristic in the summer. The construction of a hotel from the 1960’s largely contributed to damage the island’s geology.

Through the development of two sites, the hotel, and the village, located in two distinct bays, our project intends to reconstitute the “skin” of the island by making its proper vegetation and rocks live again.

The landscape identity of the island is mainly based on its soil, its skin, a fragile balance between stone and vegetations, between rocks and scrubland. The terraced landscape is the mark of a lost farming activity. The project ambition to recreate real food-producing gardens and highlight the ancient stone walls.

Today the hotel is obsolete and is going to be transformed in a luxury hotel whom architecture will be coherent with the island geology. Leaning against the hill and open to the sea, it will host two swimming pools including a sea level basin inspired by traditional Maltese salt marshes sculpted in the rocks.

The village reconnects with the Mediterranean landscape thanks to a simple and rustic composition. Gravel pathways meander between the buildings and the twenty of Villas around which gardens are planted with trees

Thus, the landscape approach of the project integrates the flora, the colors, and the textures of the island. The project fits with the island topography and fully integrates the dialogue between mineral and vegetal. To anchor in the natural landscape of Comino, the project aims on one hand to use the already here materials, and on the other hand to reinstall carefully every landscape’s component that would have been moved during the constructions. It is also a respectful project toward the environment in which the utilization of water will be parsimonious.