DAAA Haus is a Gold Winner of the German Design Circle Award in the category Excellence for Interior Architecture. Already a winner of many other prizes and awards, the luxury boutique hotel built in Malta in 2017 is the flagship project of the studio that this year celebrates its tenth anniversary with a series of initiatives: a gala party; a series of workshops with major universities and design talks; an exhibition with artisinal rugs designed by the Studio and made in India by hand, as well as the launch of communication campaign designed to commemorate 10 years of design.
The winning project
Cugó Gran Macina Grand Harbor is a historic fortress that dominated the port of the Maltese city of Senglea. Built in 1554 by the Knights of St. John the Macina, has been a landmark for centuries. The building was convdrted by DAAA Haus into a luxury hotel over a period of 2 years, and completed in 2017. Today it houses 21 suites, ranging from 40 to 130 square meters. The interiors are characterized by clean and essential lines, quality materials and designer signature furniture pieces. Contemporary design respects and enhances the historical structure.
The common areas are intriguing, with large vaulted ceilings, ample natural light and open views of the harbor. The minimal design of DAAA Haus has created a refined environment in which white and bare natural limestone walls speak of volumes and exude elegance, making it unique in the world.
The studio
"Good design can make the world a better place": this is the believe that for ten years has been guiding
DAAA Haus, a multidisciplinary architecture and design studio with offices in Malta, Milan, Ragusa and soon in India in Mumbai, characterized by an approach particular to the design.
Architecture, interior design, branding, artistic production: the sphere in which the DAAA Haus creatives move is extremely varied and the design (or, as they like to call it, the creative process) never takes off from the simple functionality of the spaces, but from real concepts that aim to offer people values and an identity sense in which to recognize themselves.
Founded in 2009 in Malta by creative director Keith Pillow, DAAA Haus has grown to accommodate 30+ young professionals from different backgrounds, from Maltese to Italian, from Serbs to Irish, passing through India, Poland, Spain and Tunisia. From their heterogeneity, ambitious projects were born, such as Cugó Gran Macina Grand Harbor or Rocksalt (2015), a 19th-century garage in Sliema transformed into a modern and chic café, the first DAAA Haus project to be published in international magazines.
Ten years of creative work
The creative versatility is also revealed through the variety of the curated projects: with Sky Spirit, the studio in 2013 gave shape to a new approach to the interior design of a fitness studio, while in 2017 it realized its first Milanese project, Bottone, a shop specializing in cannoli but that looks like a jewellery shop. In 2015, work began on a project "Made in Sicily": it is Vullo Estate, an equestrian resort and spa that reinterprets the rooms of a historic building owned by the client family since 1870 with contemporary taste and natural materials.
On the occasion of the election of the city of Valletta as European Capital of Culture, the studio in 2017 presented a number of boutique hotels in the city amongst which is The Cumberland, a meticulous restoration of a historic building turned into a boutique hotel. Instead, let's go back to Italy with Anthea Preziosi, an architectural project that has reinterpreted a modern building in the heart of Ragusa's most important shopping street and won local and international awards.
The future
There are also many future projects already in the pipeline, such as the particular residential project Haus Eleven, a modern, minimal yet sophisticated and high tech villa, but also several large / medium sized hotels, such as the Cavalieri Art Hotel and the Sketch Hotel, a small 50-room modern building under construction in front of the new Zaha Hadid's Mercury Tower in St.Julians.
"We believe that the way DAAA Haus works creates a new dimension," says creative director Pillow. " A dimension of distinct and well-defined design, that will not save the world, but that will surely make it look better".
The German Design Award
Called by the German Design Council, the German Design Award is one of the most important international awards in the field of design and aims to reward studios and designers who, through their projects, contribute to generating new developments and new value within the industry of design.
Founded in 1953 on the initiative of the German Federal Parliament, the German Design Council is one of the major centers of competence for communication and brand management in the field of design. The founding members include numerous internationally renowned design associations and designers.