Maltese firm Architecture Project have made the final shortlist for the 2011 edition of the Inside Festival of Interiors Awards with this recently completed interior design scheme.

The festival awards, which take place in Barcelona this November, consist of eleven categories, with Architecture Project scooping a place on the shortlist in the 'Creative Re-use' category.

Architecture Project's entry is a new office space for an investment firm created on St. Barbara’s Bastion in Malta's capital city of Valletta; and one which saw the practice remodelling a historic three storey house into offices and residential space.

The need for separate entrances, and therefore, two staircases became the key design challenge for the architectural team.

In response, The AP team applied the concept of a 'double-helix' to the two staircases, thus enabling the entrances to be distinct, leading to the offices and residential unit separately, while the intertwining staircases are conceived as one sculptural mass.

AP has been invited to present their project in front of an international jury, where they'll be competing against other finalists for the overall award for World Interior of the Year.

The winner is to be decided by Inside’s acclaimed judging panel comprised of internationally respected designers and key industry figures.

Photography David Pisani.