Team

Principal: Anthony Bonnici, Perit Karl Ebejer

Founded in 2021 by Karl Ebejer and Anthony Bonnici, EBEJER BONNICI is an architectural practice rooted in Malta, with a primary focus on discovering new potentials and worlds in architecture.

The practice is centred around a common understanding that architecture is an experience, and space serves as its universal foundation. Combining rigorous technical expertise with philosophical depth, the studio is dedicated to creating works that challenge conventional boundaries while remaining anchored to the cultural DNA of the Maltese islands. From a hotel made in limestone in a village piazza, to a steel mausoleum, to international work such as residential designs in Baja California Sur, Mexico and Oaji, California, USA the studio’s portfolio reflects its ability to adapt to complex scales and contexts. With Bonnici’s experience leading groundbreaking international projects and Ebejer’s precision in navigating Malta’s challenging planning landscape, EBEJER BONNICI is crafting an architecture that is both globally ambitious and locally resonant. The studio’s latest project, the Maltese Pavilion for the 2025 London Design Biennale at Somerset House, stands as a testament to their dedication to redefining architectural identity in Malta and beyond.

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Team

Senior Architect: Perit Alexandra Manche’

Senior Architect (Graduate): Mattea Fenech

Junior Architect: Davida Bonanno

Project Co-Ordinator/Social Media Manager: Cherise Debattista

Founded in 2020 by Perit Alexandra Manché, Amanche Architecture was born at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic – a time when many young practices struggled simply to survive. What began as a leap of faith has grown into a resilient, women-led studio based in Sliema, working across architecture, interiors, and adaptive reuse. Today, the practice comprises Alexandra as principal, two junior architects, and a studio manager, forming a close-knit team united by curiosity, care, and commitment. At under five years old, Amanche is firmly positioned within the criteria for the Emerging Practice Award.

Our philosophy is simple yet ambitious: every project should leave the built environment better than we found it. We believe architecture has the power to bring joy, to build community, and to create spaces that endure. Our approach is guided by sensitivity to context and history, openness to collaboration, and an ethos that design should feel both personal and meaningful.

In just four years, we have built a portfolio that demonstrates versatility, consistency, and ambition. From housing and hospitality to adaptive reuse and interiors, each project is approached as an opportunity to test ideas, refine our voice, and contribute positively to Malta’s built environment.

What sets Amanche apart is our unapologetic design language. We work with bold colour palettes and highlight architectural features that others often conceal in the pursuit of minimalism. Rather than smoothing over details to appear “modern,” we choose to celebrate character, history, and form; creating spaces that are expressive, distinctive, and memorable.

This commitment is strengthened by a collaborative way of working. Within the studio, we nurture a culture of openness and curiosity; beyond it, we engage engineers, artists, and designers whose input broadens our perspective. We pair this creative exchange with digital tools, AI, and rigorous project management systems to ensure delivery with clarity and precision.

Resilience has been our greatest achievement so far. From navigating the turbulence of Covid-19 to realising ambitious projects like ALBA Guesthouse, each challenge has tested us, sharpened our confidence, and refined our voice. Looking ahead, we aim to continue shaping a woman-led practice that delivers architecture which is joyful, community-oriented, and deeply rooted in Malta’s cultural landscape. In under five years, our portfolio has grown across housing, hospitality, adaptive reuse, and interiors. Whether completed, ongoing, or speculative, every project reflects our core belief: that colour, detail, and honesty of form can enrich daily life and offer a powerful alternative to conformity in the built environment.

Images © Julian Vassallo, Therese Debono

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Team

Lead Perit: Perit Maurizio Ascione

Design Perit: Perit Antonio Lorusso

Architectural Designer: Faye Cachia Mintoff, Piotr Zabek, Mafalda Rebelo, Julian Pellegrino, Wafik Nasri

Architectural Technologist: Tuan Bui Quang, Nadine Adams

Interior Designer: Poppy Cambridge

Architectural Intern: Kristina Camenzuli, Nicole Pisani

Project Manager: Michele Azzopardi

Six years ago, our practice began with a simple ambition: to explore what it means to design in Malta today. We were – and still are – a team of young architects, all under 35, committed not only to designing buildings, but also to searching for something deeper: our architectural identity.

From the beginning, walking became central to our process — walking as observing. Whether sharing lunch in a village piazza, pausing in a narrow street, or tracing the textures of limestone cliffs, these moments of stillness taught us to see. They revealed how scale, proportion, material, and atmosphere come together to shape place. Architecture, for us, begins here: in the act of observation.

This ethos of looking closely has translated into making. Every month, we gather in the studio to experiment with form — cutting foam, modelling in clay, stacking blocks. These workshops are not diversions but fundamental exercises in form-finding and collaboration. They remind us that architecture is not born solely of drawings, but of hands-on exploration, of trial and error, of making.

The significance of making manifested through ISSA, an installation for Time, Space, Existence at the Venice Biennale in 2023. Built entirely by us, using local stone and a process of trial and error, it marked a turning point. It reconnected us with materials, with craft, and with a way of working that felt authentic as architects working in Malta in this day and age.

ISSA became the seed for MINIMA, our first publication. MINIMA was our response to the crisis of contemporary architecture: a built environment too often driven by speed and profit over quality, identity, and the human experience. Our philosophy points towards two guiding references. The first is nature: balance, integration, and timelessness, embodied in elements such as light, air, water, and stone. The second is history: the timeless principles articulated by Vitruvius — order, arrangement, proportion, eurythmy, symmetry, propriety, and economy — reinterpreted for today. From these, we distilled six principles that guide us as a practice and help us through the process of design: pure forms, proportion, geometry, materiality, monochromatism, and the interplay of light and shadow.

This framework has transformed our work. Early commissions often reflected the language of luxury Mediterranean villas — stark white forms and expansive glazing. Over time, however, we began to question this vocabulary. Our trajectory has moved toward a more sensitive architecture, one grounded in context, proportion, and materiality.

Across the past six years, these ideas have unfolded through our portfolio of work, culminating most recently in the design of our new office. This project embodies our journey: a space for experimentation, collaboration, and making. Defined by pure geometric forms and an underlying grid, the office was built with a spirit of exploration. We experimented with materials, textures, and finishes; we tested colourisation and surfaces; we cast concrete desks and built tables which integrated marble offcuts into unique compositions.

The result is a space that marks both our philosophy and progression — the expression of six years of searching, making, and refining. From observation, to making, to a defined architectural identity. It is both a milestone in our practice and a foundation for what is still to come of life.

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