The Ring Metaphor and the Spirit of Sofia and other essays

by Lino Bianco

published Kite Group

We are living in an epoch that devalues thinking. Generally, the man in the street chooses either to blindly believe the mantra of the politicians that he/she elects or wishes to elect to power or the influencers who from time to time post an edited version of reality on their favourite platforms in the social media.

The end result of this malaise of not wanting to think or letting others think for you is leaving a deep impact on society. In fact, society is losing its inquisitive instincts. We are becoming robots with blank minds passports.

Lino Bianco begs to differ and is not prepared to be a part of this trend which excels in demotivation to grow.

In fact, his book The Ring Metaphor and the Spirit of Sofia and other essays published by Kite in 2021 is a case in point.

Through this book, Bianco, a full-time resident academic at the Department of Architecture and Urban Design in the Faculty for the Built Environment at the University of Malta, has embarked on a project that discusses the philosophy of architecture.

The basilica of Hagia Sofia – the church giving the name to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

His objective is to prove that there is a relationship between architecture and the development of culture. Both domains can walk together and co-exist irrespective of controversial projects. From the start, I must admit that this book challenged my previous views of limiting architecture to a money-making expedition and an exercise in uglifying and destroying the patrimony of our island home.

Of course, the obscenities that are being sanctioned around us are enough fodder to believe such a claim, but Bianco shows that architecture, and especially the study of architecture, can be a provocative venture to our thoughts to the point that we can speak of a philosophy of architecture – a subject that in Malta’s case is still novel to a certain extent.

I attribute this radical school of thought to the fact that besides Bianco having authored several technical reports in his practice as an architect and as an urban and environmental management consultant, the author had his share of education in humanistic studies, mainly philosophy and architecture, and in the sciences, notably geology and engineering, leading to a multidisciplinary treatment of the subject.

There is a relationship between architecture and the development of culture

Currently, Bianco is also the Ambassador of Malta to Romania and to the Republic of Moldova. It would be a gross mistake to limit the experience of reading this book only to scholars, researchers and students who are reading architecture and cultural studies. The book has a universal appeal.

The book has six chapters that originally were published in the journal of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Malta, Melita Theologica. Just to whet the eventual readers’ appetite, I will succinctly refer to three chapters in particular in this inquisitive book.

I found the second chapter really enchanting. It tackles the history of Valletta, our capital city built by gentlemen for gentlemen, through a philosophy inspired by Michel Foucault. This is by far a revolutionary rendition of the theme.

Morality in architectural design is the topic of the third chapter. Focusing on buildings built in London after World War 2, this chapter argues that there is an attempt to return to the notion of truth in the art and science of building as advocated by the English architect and designer Augustus Pugin.

The fourth chapter reviews G.W.F. Hegel’s notion of Gothic architecture as it emerges from his interpretation of the history of architecture based on his theoretical framework of the evolution of history.

The book’s foreword is written by Simeon II, the King of All Bulgarians and the grandson of Vittorio Emanuele III of Savoy, the last ruling monarch who was removed when the Soviets occupied the Kingdom of Bulgaria after World War 2.

A photo of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta in the1870s. Photo: Horatio Agius/Wikimedia Commons

This publication has been endorsed by a number of local and international scholars.

In Malta, it was endorsed by the Chancellor of the University of Malta, Prof. David Attard, and by the architect of international repute Prof. Richard England.

Foreign personalities, among whom Prof. Juhani Pallasmaa from Finland, Prof. Ashraf Salama from Scotland and Prof. Augustin Ioan from Romania also endorsed the publication.

The book by Bianco stands on its own. It is not a bedtime reading novel (I have nothing against such books).

Sometimes one has to struggle to follow his thoughts and theories, but definitely the book will not leave the reader passive and neither will it let down those who opt for intelligent reading.

Furthermore, Bianco’s writings have a literary flavour. This book deserves to be in one’s library as I believe it is also an empowering experience.