I wasn’t in Malta for the opening of Professor England’s retrospective at BOV in Santa Venera but when I told him this he offered to guide me through it himself, a real treat.

I am acquainted with most of his work either through his beautifully produced books, his exhibitions, interviews and published articles. He is immensely prolific and this exhibition where almost everything he has created on paper is in one area, does justice to the immense work produced in half a century in which not much time could have been wasted. He is a man who focuses on the work at hand and then goes to the next project. And there is always a project, or two, or three…

On the architecture side perhaps his best known building is the Church of St Joseph in Manikata which he designed when he was merely 23-years-old, fresh from his stage in the studio of the famous architect Gio Ponti in Milan. “My father was strict. I wasn’t at all spoilt. He placed my allowance in my bank account and told me it would have to cover a certain amount of time and that was that. I tended to overspend in the first few months and then find that living in relative luxury would have to stop as my allowance was drying up fast. So I found a job in an architect’s studio. I drew and designed while a young pianist played. He was called Maurizio Pollini. His father was the rationalist architect Gino Pollini. Little did any of us know then, how privileged we were and that he was going to become world famous in due course.”

The church in Manikata made instant impact. So many churches in Malta but everyone was talking about Richard England’s church. It wasn’t a hit with everyone but it was discussed ad infinitum.

One of Professor England’s maxims is ‘Tradition is the alphabet, form is the language, architecture the poem.’ Surely this church is a prime example of this. Richard England is true to himself and practices what he preaches.

I believe that his chef d’ouvre is St James Cavalier built into the fortifications which have now become obsolete and which he converted so beautifully, merging the old with the new. He has brought new life to an old building without intrusion from the outside. He has made this structure, built for a second siege which never happened, useful at the same time retaining its overall integrity and form.

This idea of ‘no intrusion’ immediately calls to mind the Hotel Excelsior which was and still is controversial. “We must not only design the future but defend the past,” he comments. As to the Excelsior, given the means and the chance he would buy it, undo it, restore the old walls and build an opera house on the water.

He talks of Pasmore, Nigel Dennis, Desmond Morris. “Each one of them left something. They brought over their friends among them the artists Mary Fedden and her husband Julian Trevalyan. She gave me a painting to be placed in St James but when she visited the building for the first time she told me: ‘Richard I am going to take it back. It isn’t good enough for your architecture.’ And she brought a better one.”

 The Central Bank Annexe near St James is his design too and again he has kept it strictly in the confines of the fortifications. England respects the texture and the poetry of the past. Another of his maxims: “We must reinstate poetry, myth and magic into architecture in order to help man reawaken spiritually and emotionally from the damaged and depleted contemporary world in order to arouse once more the ecstasy of reverie and rapture.”

And poetry is a word which this ‘renaissance’ man uses frequently. He refers to buildings without poetry. And we all know about these for we are surrounded by them. Look around you and weep. But this architect is also a poet and his beautifully designed poetry books, full of thought-provoking poems which have depth, are exhibited as well.

Renzo Piano and Richard England were born in the same year. Piano has written: “Richard England is a master builder, his walls breathe, yet they are walls which are anchored to the ground and their individual elements interact and merge perfectly… His is an architecture which is local, but also global, for his language is the language of poetry.” A tremendous compliment from a world renowned architect – whether you like his designs or not.

Richard England has also built several churches and chapels among them the Millennium Chapel in Paceville, the San Gorg Meditation Chapel, Blata l-Bajda, the Church of St Francis in Qawra and others. He believes that Malta is a sacred site because of all the temples that have been built. His dream is to build a metaphor for peace: a mosque, a synagogue and a Christian chapel. When he spoke to an important churchman some time ago about this idea he was told: ‘Yes, but without the mosque.’ His latest sacred space is the Dar il-Hanin Samaritan in Santa Venera with its bright and serene interior, tinted pale-blue by the hand-coloured Mdina glass that fills the gridded walls, a change from the dark and shadowed churches. This is an optimistic church, a church of the future. A spiritual man – Professor England does not like the word ‘religious’ – another of his maxims regarding the building of sacred spaces is the following: ‘In the making of sacred spaces, the architect must resort not only to professional tools and skills, but must also add belief and faith.’

 ‘I don’t want realism. I want magic,’  Tennessee Williams wrote. I have found magic in Richard England’s poetry. There is also magic in his magnificent Polyprints in his Mythopoli the magical cities created in his imagination then put on paper, his drawings of Sartorini, Greece, Egypt, Italy, Petra, Prague, the Camargue, London; his paintings, his photographs and lately his multicoloured penguins for the Verdala Sculpture Garden Project which was launched last Friday.   

He has designed buildings for Baghdad where he had met Saddam Hussein. The Haifa Street Apartment and the Bab Al-Sheikh Housing and Offices in Bagdad carry his imprint. There is also a residence in Moscow.

His design for the Malta Parliament has glass throughout ‘to represent the fact that Parliament should be transparent’ the architect told me, possibly tongue firmly in his cheek.

There are also plans for buildings which never got beyond the planning stage. One is of a tourist village in Xlendi, Gozo and another is the Santa Barbara Tourist Village in Comino. There are other plans both for here and abroad.

He tells me of a mortuary chapel he designed for a friend. The friend dropped him a thank you note saying: “Delighted with it. Dying to move in!”

Professor England is full of anecdotes and one project is to compile them and publish them. Is he ever going to retire? I got the reply I expected: “If you rest you rust,” was his response.

What is the most interesting thing he has done, I wanted to know. “What I am going to do next. Success is not a destination, not a reachable destination. It’s a journey.” And so the journey continues.   He originally wanted to be a tenor. Who knows, maybe he will surprise us all, one of these days.

The retrospective exhibition closes on 19 July.