Il-Maċina is the fortress overlooking the port of the Maltese city of Senglea. Its shape has always remained the same, while its function changed over time: from defensive walls of the city to a shipyard, in the 70s converted into the Maltese Labour Party headquarters and today a botique hotel, the Cugó Gran Macina Grand Harbour. The international studio DAAA Haus based in Malta, founded in 2009 by creative director Keith Pillow, obtained twenty-one suites inside the fortress, each one different from the other, up to 150 sqm in size.

A subtle lighting project and metal blades framing the openings of the rooms redesign and enhance the image of the fortress on the port, while inside new infrastructures such as lofts, staircases, elevators and water pools are inserted between the high vaulted ceilings and the mighty walls to adapt the historic biulding to the new function. The dark tones of these elements, together with the finishing materials used in the rooms – slate stone, lava, wood, glass and iron – mark the new intervention contrasting with the white stone of the fortress. The furniture, all rigorously costumized and characterized by essential lines furnishes the rooms, while pieces of plasterboard walls that cover the stone and hide the plant system, make the interior of the fortress cosy and confortable. With the project Cugó Gran Macina Grand Harbour Hotel, DAAA Haus was the Gold winner of the German Design Circle Award in the category of interior architecture.