architecture for

Transcription

architecture for

architecture for
tour i sm
Issue 2 ⁄ Vol. 1
summer 2009
published annually
free download version also available at
www.promontoriotourism.net
A review of recent buildings,
projects and concepts
by pro mon tor io arc hi t e c t s
Victoria sets the standard Why golfing in the Algarve will
never be the same
pag 214
/ Designing for Doha A proposal for a
new city of leisure next to Qatar’s capital
pag 252
/ The Trojan horse
Troia Design Hotel is the upcoming destination on Europe’s West Coast
pag 82
/ Arles golf resort Playing in Van Gogh’s backyard
pag 224
/
Alcácer or Al Qaşr How an ancient Arab and Roman river town is
fast emerging to tourism prominence
pag94
/ New waves at China
beach Masterplanning Vietnam’s surfing paradise
pag 76
/ Algarve’s
Luxury Collectibles Take off soon for The Terraces at Sheraton
usd $31
uk £20
EUr €22
Pine Cliffs
pag 108
CANASTA | DESIGN PATRICIA URQUIOLA | www.bEbITALIA.COm
LA RGO DE SAN TOS N º 14D - 1200-808 L I S bOA - P OR TUGAL
T. +35 1213933170 [email protected] www.PARIS-SETE.COm
SEE OUR PRODUCTS AT:
NORD - AV. INFANTE D. HENRIQUE ARM. B LOJA 6 - 00351 218821045 - WWW.LOJANORD.COM
Fosters + Partners, photo by Ed Reeve
Photo: Gionata Xerra
SOFRAU
Av. Marquês Tomar, Nº 52/54 1050-156 Lisboa
Telefone 217 958 000 Fax 217 958 270
[email protected]
Convivium, design Antonio Citterio
www.arclinea.com
STZ
iGuzzini illuminazione - Via Mariano Guzzini 37 - I-62019 Recanati
Tel. +39 071 75881 - Fax +39 071 7588295 - iguzzini.com - [email protected]
Osvaldo Matos - R. Santa Bárbara 27/45 - Coimbrões - 4400-289 V.N. Gaia - Portugal
Tel. +351 223 710419 - Fax +351 223 702044 - osvaldomatos.pt - [email protected]
Groping around in the
dark is not exactly
the most economical way
to save energy.
Where light is poor, the quality of life and productive efficiency suffer. To make more rational and profitable use of electricity
(and reduce CO2 emissions), it is essential to illuminate better, not less. This is why iGuzzini have developed a whole series of devices
that use high efficiency energy sources and optics that can be computer-linked to electric installation control systems. Such devices
open the way to more intelligent energy usage.
To take an example close to home, the mayor of Recanati recently declared that the town had managed to slash its energy costs
by 40% thanks to its new public lighting system. This was engineered by the lighting designer proposed by iGuzzini, sponsors of the
project. Similar statements could be made by the mayors of New York, Paris, London, Melbourne or Shanghai, cities where iGuzzini
habitually illuminates buildings and public byways. iguzzini.com, iGuzzini illuminazione spa, Italy.
Better Light for a Better Life.
A chair grown for living.
The new Vegetal is here.
Vegetal is a new chair planted by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and
grown by Vitra. A chair that comes in 6 colours. A chair that will blossom
naturally in any living space indoors and out. No watering required.
Only at authorised Vitra dealers: www.vitra.com
ARMANDO TESTA
Cassiopea.
Design: Lievore - Altherr - Molina.
9 modules, 90 colors, infinite combinations.
Milano, Roma, Napoli, Paris,
London, Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, Dubai,
New York, Miami, Washington DC,
Tokyo, Singapore, Manila, Seoul, Taipei.
www.poltronafrau.it
Alessandra, Matilde and Emma Ferri.
New York, September 2008.
www.maserati.com
MASERATI QUATTROPORTE.
feito à medida
da sua condução.
a referência em potência e elegância.
A procura constante pelos padrões tecnológicos mais elevados, levam o Quattroporte a um novo nível de excelência: motores V8 de 4.2 com 400 cv
e 4.7 com 430 cv, inovações tecnológicas e estéticas aplicadas aos detalhes mais subtis, conforto total e fiabilidade. A elegância deste automóvel
de eleição e o design distintivo Pininfarina, fazem do novo Maserati a expressão máxima da arte que só a tradição da marca do Tridente consegue atingir.
CONSUMO COMBINADO: 14,7 L/100 KM (4.2) - 15,7 L/100 KM (4.7)
EMISSÕES CO2: 345 G/KM (4.2) - 365 G/KM (4.7)
Estoril: Av. da República - Edifício Santogal, 2645-143 ALCABIDECHE - Tel.: 21 043 07 40 • PORTO: Rua da Boavista, 868, 4050-106 PORTO - Tel.: 22 600 46 27
*www.maseratiawards.com
Sophie Marceau
L I S BOA Ourivesaria Portugal • David Rosas • Machado Joalheiro • Rubiouro Joalheiro • P ORTO Machado Joalheiro
FARO Paulo Miranda Joalheiro • C OIM BRA Góis Joalheiro • FUNCHAL David Rosas
P a ra m a is in f orm a ç õe s: +351 21 322 41 30 [email protected]
www.chaumet.com
Class One
contents
26
27
28
32
Credits ∕ On Promontorio ∕ Editorial ∕ News ∕ Artist
Collaborations 36∕ Quinta da Marinha Golf Resort Residences 42∕
Cascais Marina 50∕ Hotel da Luz 56∕ Ges Hotel & Tower 60∕ Tivoli
Cape Verde Hotel & Business Centre 64∕ The Lake Resort Hotel
& Spa 70∕ Hoi An Beach Resort & Spa 76∕ Troia Design Hotel 82∕
Finisterra Apartments 94∕ Aldeia de Santiago 100∕
The Terraces at The Sheraton Pine Cliffs Algarve 108∕ Alcacer
Art & Golf Resort 114∕ Alcacer Vines 120∕ Dreamwave 128∕ Bubble
Casino 132∕ Evora Resort 136∕ Palmares Golf Townhouses 140∕
Britannia Hotel 144∕ Inspira Santa Martha Hotel 152∕ Tivoli Jardim
City Centre Hotel 158∕ Vincci Lisboa Hotel 162∕ The Westin Lisboa
Hotel & Residences 168∕ Algeria’s Falaises d’Oran 172∕ Luanda Star
Towers & Residences 178∕ Villas de Benfica, Luanda 182∕ L’And
Vineyards 186∕ Inspira Flores Hotel 198∕ Vilalara Resort 204∕ Benagil
Retreat 210∕ Tivoli Victoria Hotel, Conference Centre & Elements
Spa by Banyan Tree 214∕ Arles Golf Resort 224∕ Melia Bahia Hotel
Resort, Brazil 228∕ Portimão Riverfront Revival 234∕ Parque
NorteSul Hotel & Residences 240∕ Pinhal de Alcacer 244∕ Budget
Hotel 248∕ Qatar Downtown Shopping Resort 252∕ Afterword 256∕
25
credits
partners
Tourism & Hospitality
Paulo Martins Barata M.Arch mba PhD
[email protected]
+351 937 134 915
Interior Design
João Perloiro, M.Arch
[email protected]
+351 939 443 659
Housing, Offices & Mixed-use
João Luis Ferreira M.Arch
[email protected]
+351 939 443 765
Retail Design
Paulo Perloiro M.Arch
[email protected]
+351 932 271 073
Museums, Aquariums & Design
Sustainability
Pedro Appleton M.Arch
[email protected]
+351 939 443 950
Communications & External Relations
Ana Goncalves M.Arch
[email protected]
+351 918 687 327
promontorio tourismTM is a branch
of promontorio architectsTM in the
field of tourism.
This publication is annually printed on
paper and published online. You may
obtain it by contacting us and request
a copy, or freely download it in pdf
format at www.promontoriotourism.net
promontorio architects
www.promontorio.net
www.promontoriotourism.net
www.promontorioretail.net
R. Fabrica Material de Guerra, 10
1950-128 Lisboa
portugal
Telephone +351 218 620 970
Facsimile +351 218 620 971
Email [email protected]
Copyrights
© promontorio for all texts
© promontorio for the photographs
shared with Fernando Guerra/fg+sg
and Nuno Ribeiro (Arte Fotográfica)
© Inspira/ Luís Ferreira Alves for the
photographs of Rua das Flores
© promontorio for all renderings
shared with 4+Arq
Graphic Design
R2 Design (www.r2design.pt)
Technical Coordination
Pedro Grandão M.Arch
Joana Wanderley M.Arch
Translations & Editing
David Sampson
Cover Illustration
João Fazenda (www.joaofazenda.com)
Afterword Illustration
Yolanda Candeias
Paper
Cover: Creator Silk 200 grs/m2
Interior: Synar Matt 115 grs/m2,
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To contact us dial +351 218 620 970.
You may also call directly to the mobile
of Paulo Martins Barata +351 937 134 915, All paper used in the production of this
or email to [email protected]
publication comes from well-managed
sources.
Typefaces
Akkurat mono, Lineto
Leitura, DSType Foundry
Outbox, Paul Vanderland
Seravek, Process Type Foundry
Print Run
June 2009: 1st Edition of 1.500 copies
Printer
Norprint (www.norprint.pt)
26
promontorio tourism TM,
promontorio retail TM and
promontorio interior design TM
are all registered trademarks of
promontorio architects TM. This
work is subject to copyright. All rights
are reserved, whether the whole or
part of the material is concerned,
specifically the rights of the texts,
the translations, reprinting, re-use
of illustrations, reproduction on
microfilm, or in other media, and
storage in databanks. For any kind of
use, permission of the copyright owner
must be obtained.
Credits
We are grateful for the images and
credits supplied by the following
individuals and companies: The
Champalimaud Group (Quinta da
Marinha), José de Almeida Araújo,
James Edward Risso-Gill, Inspira SGPS
(Inspira Hotels), Luís Alves de Sousa
(Britannia Hotel), Pedro Baumberg
Garcia (Marcascais), Paulo Tormenta
Pinto (ISCTE), Miguel Rugeroni (Espírito
Santo Tourism) and Nuno Ribeiro
(Arte Fotográfica). All photographs
are by FG+SG (Fernando Guerra), and
all site photographs of Alcácer, Arles,
Cape Verde, Cascais, Évora, Guarajuba,
Lisbon, Montemor, Oran, Pine Cliffs
and Vietnam are by and from and
PROMONTORIO ARCHITECTS. Exception
are site photographs supplied by
IFA Hotels & Resorts (UIP), aerial
photographs of Alcácer, Cascais,
Portimão, Victoria and Tróia by Nuno
Ribeiro (Arte Fotográfica), historical
images of Quinta da Marinha from
the Champalimaud Archive, aerial
photographs of Benagil supplied by
the Inland Group, Tivoli Victoria Hotel
photograph in the news section by
Alma Mollemans (Tivoli Hotels &
Resorts) and the Cascais 3rd Trophy
image from the Marcascais Archive.
Finally, we are also grateful to 4+Arq
(Filipe Santana and Ricardo Antunes)
for their relentless effort in producing
high-quality 3D renderings on behalf of
PROMONTORIO.
isbn 978-989-96255-0-1
depósito legal 294777/09
on promontorio
Promontorio
Architects
Master Planning ∕ Architecture ∕
Landscaping ∕ Interior Design ∕
Product Design ∕ Graphics
PROMONTORIO is a full-service design
firm that began 20 years ago in Lisbon as
an experimental studio, and grew into a
practice of sixty architects, urban planners,
landscape architects, interior, product and
graphic designers.
From the beginning we have worked
together in a cohesive manner to deal with
large and complex urban projects so as
to be able provide both their design and
programme. PROMONTORIO has designed a
range of buildings from schools, museums
and cultural institutions, to housing, offices,
hotels and retail, and it has worked on
projects in Algeria, Angola, Brazil, Bulgaria,
Cape Verde, Dubai, Germany, Hungary,
Italy, Georgia, Mozambique, Portugal,
Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland,
Turkey and Vietnam.
The firm’s work has been widely
published in architectural and other
magazines such a10, Area, Architectural
Review, Architecti, Arqa, Arquitectura
Viva, a+t, Detail, 2g, Domus, Expresso,
Prototypo, Público, ja, Lotus, Techniques
& Architecture and The Plan. Our work has
received numerous international awards
and has been presented in conferences
and lectures in Austria, Brazil, Finland,
France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal,
uk and the usa. It was exhibited, among
others, in the 9th Venice Architecture Biennial,
in La Triennale di Milano, in Arc en Rêve
(Bordeaux), in Cornell University (Ithaca),
and more recently in Aedes Gallery (Berlin).
The articles published here relate
exclusively to hospitality projects. We have
been engaged in Tourism Design for over a
decade as the result of a strategic decision that
little by little led to us consistently being one
of the leading designers in the field. In truth,
we never aimed to be big. We see ourselves
as small, as far as architecture firms go,
but substantial, as niche designers. We see
ourselves as reliable innovators. And as the
breadth of work described in this publication
demonstrates, the compass of opportunities
that hospitality offers to planners, architects
and designers as a creative field is second
to none. From resort master planning and
landscaping to the design of the buildings
themselves, to the interior design concepts
and to the smallest scale of details involving
custom design furniture and fittings, it is truly
a world of possibilities.
27
editorial
In Praise of
Authenticity
The days of tourism as a naïve and tentative business are long gone.
The past two decades have seen unlimited economic growth, particularly
in the tourism and hotel industry. New destinations have been created
overnight in orchestrated allegiances between carriers, tour operators,
hotel chains and property developers. Truth be told, many things have been
done without due care and attention, not only to environmental resources,
but also from a design perspective. All things considered, if one looks
overall at the real consequences of world Disneyfication, its most dubious
contribution is perhaps the introduction of thematic design in architecture.
• Morris Lapidus, Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach, 1954
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• Porte-cochère of the hotel
• Ricardo Legorreta, The Blue Lounge at Camino Real
• Gio Ponti, Parco dei Principi Hotel, Amalfi coast, 1962
Hotel, Mexico City, 1968
Until the 1970s, architecture was a theme of
its own (even for Disney). One is reminded
of Morris Lapidus and his legendary
Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach,
of 1954, or of Ricardo Legorreta’s Camino
Real and its charismatic Blue Lounge,
built outside of Mexico City, in 1968, or of
the exquisite furnishings at the Parco dei
Principi hotel on the Amalfi coast, designed
by the Milanese master Gio Ponti in 1962, or
of the supreme elegance of the Copenhagen
Radisson sas of Arne Jacobsen of 1958, and
last but not least of Marcel Breuer’s Flaine,
the audacious ski resort of 1961, built on
the slopes of Mont Blanc.
These were great tourist icons simply
because architecturally they were splendid
and elegant. Suddenly at the beginning
of the 1980s the world became Disney,
and we entered the brave new world of
faux-urbanity. From then on hoteliers took
it for granted that a hotel in Thailand would
look like a pagoda, a resort in Mexico would
fake a hacienda, and a hotel in Portugal
would replicate a fisherman’s village.
The exuberance of architecture in
itself was no longer sufficient. Hotel and
resort design needed to “blend in” with
• Arne Jacobsen, Radisson sas Hotel,
Copenhagen, 1958
local culture; a bogus brew that yielded the
construction of a pastiche world, identified
today by educated travellers as false or
artificial. Now, after twenty years of thematic
design and cultural debasement, we have
been trying to bring back architecture as a
theme in its own right. It is not easy; in an
industry that tends to be rather conservative,
it requires perseverance from designers and
enlightenment from developers.
Bottom line: Can architecture per se
regain power in the tourism industry?
We honestly believe it can. There is a growing
market for design-oriented lifestyles in the
middle and upper-middle classes. Tourism
has increasingly become a fashion driven
statement and by now there are already
some extremely successful examples of the
so-called design hotels, let alone those
over-designed. Yet, unlike what ikea
represents for home furnishings, there is still
a long way to go before design hotels reach the
mass market, if ever.
The fact remains that cultural authenticity
and architectural integrity have always been
at the foundation of everything remarkable
and long lasting in the tourism industry.
29
editorial
• Marcel Breuer, Flaine Ski Resort, Mont Blanc, 1961
• Life Magazine cover featuring the Ritz Hotel, in Lisbon, 1962
Creating “architecture with a sense of place”
seems like just another catchphrase from
a marketing brochure, and in most cases
it is, but in reality, consistent designers
and discerning developers are well aware
what this means. Design excellence fosters
the emergence of cultural identity and
place-making. This is just as true for
renowned historical locations, as for the
creation of new tourism destinations. We can
create places anew; we can find inspiration
in local culture and we can reinvent ideas
and forms from local craft, buildings and
climate. We can draw on and develop from
already fascinating traditions, but we
must never fall into the trap of designing
caricatures of this heritage.
When it comes to authenticity, much
the same can be said about the role that
architecture can (and should) play in
the sustainability of tourism. In terms of
environmental economics, the only way
forward for the industry is smart growth in
the management of energy, transportation,
waste and water. By and large, global
climate change results from the lifestyles of
post-industrial capitalist culture. And it is a
given fact that consumption must be reduced
drastically if we are to stop, let alone reverse,
climate change.
Under the Kyoto Protocol and the
emissions trading agreements, governments
can only maintain tourism growth if they can
lower the ecological footprint, and at the same
time raise total income relative to material and
energy throughput. Habits of conservation
and recycling must help to develop tourism
segments where consumption is less intense.
When it comes to buildings, the panacea
is not to be found in retrofitting architecture
with some high technology. Rather, we need
to incorporate simple but effective ideas in our
design strategies: like reusing and recycling
materials in routine hotel renovations;
like maximizing durability by detailing
weathering solutions; or simply by devising
straight forward maintenance systems that do
not require dedicated specialists.
As Wilfried Wang noted, climate change is not
caused by financial or technological factors
alone and so it follows that neither money
nor technology alone will yield the solution.
We need to reduce not only the ecological,
but also the cultural footprint of buildings.
By the former, we mean to say that the
aesthetic life expectancy of architecture
30
• Disneyland resort flyer, 1950s
• Hilton Hawaiian Village (vintage postcard), Waikiki, 1960s
should be as long as its material life
expectancy. In fact, buildings last much longer
than fashion statements; they cross lives and
impact generations. Architecture for tourism
need not relinquish the spectacular foreground
that has been its prerogative across the
20th-century, but it does have to maintain
dignity as part of a vibrant culture.
Ultimately, as designers, our task is to
create places that withstand the test of time:
places that resist the brutal obsolescence
that seems prematurely to condemn
everything that aspires to serenity and
calm. The architect, Le Corbusier said, must
not look for the truth in extremes. Rather,
he must constantly struggle to maintain
balance. “Nobody asked him to do this.
Nobody owes him any thanks. He lives in the
extraordinary world of the acrobat”. Following
Le Corbusier’s metaphor and the choice
between going with the flow of the market or
cultivating a self-conscious resistance,
we would do well, would we not, to ensure
that we maintain this magnificent but
delicate equilibrium?
Paulo Martins Barata
[email protected]
31
news
Saigon’s
jewel:
The
Metropolis
Project
With almost 500,000 sq.m of gross built area,
the Metropolis Project will be the largest
mixed-use complex of Ho Chi Minh
(the city formerly known as Saigon),
in Vietnam. promontorio has been selected
as the leading designer by bta Corporation in
collaboration with the Vietnamese architects
htt, based on a previous master plan by Arata
Isozaki. Located on the Thao Dien district,
between the river and the northbound
highway, the project comprises the largest
shopping centre of Saigon, crowned by twin
40-storey office towers, in addition to 1,000
apartment units, including a serviced
luxury condominium.
www.btadi.com
32
news
Victoria’s Grand Opening:
A Golfers Dream Come True
The Tivoli Victoria is scheduled for Grand Opening on June 19.
As the first hotel entirely built and planned by Espirito Santo
Tourism, this golf haven marks the keystone of the group’s
future developments in the tourism industry.
www.tivolihotels.com/hoteis-portugal/destino/algarve/tivoli-victoria-09/lista.aspx
Meet the public: Troia Design Hotel
to open this summer
After the Vilalara and the Lake Resort, Blue and Green’s
third unit, the much anticipated Design Hotel in the
idyllic Troia peninsula finally meet the public with the
Grand Opening scheduled for the 5th of July.
www.blueandgreen.com/hot_troia.php
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Appointment to design
extension to Belgrade’s
Hotel Jugoslavija
Located on the riverfront facing the Danube, and listed as a
National Heritage, the grand modernist Hotel Jugoslavija is
probably the most celebrated hotel in Serbia and certainly
an icon of its capital. It opened in 1969 and hosted a list of
celebrities and high officials that included, among others,
Nixon, Carter, Queen Elizabeth II and Tina Turner, until it was
damaged by bombing and eventually closed. As part of a wider
masterplan that includes shopping centre and offices as well
as a Kempinski hotel unit, Greek developer Kratis, appointed
promontorio as architects for the renovation and extension
of this facility in collaboration with local architects and
planners Goran Vojvodic and Mašino Projekt.
A sea of green: Vilamoura’s
newest hotel and golf apartments
Torre Pepa: A lighthouse for the
Spanish port city of Cádiz
promontorio has been short-listed for a competition held
by Lusort for Vilamoura’s newest golf destination. Located
between the Old Course and The Victoria, two of the finest
pga courses in the Algarve, this facility provides a 5-star
hotel & spa with 140 bedrooms and suites, in addition to
180 full-service golf apartments.
In a joint venture between the municipality of Cádiz, the
city’s port authority and leading retail developer Redevco,
promontorio has been invited to submit a proposal for a
mixed-use development to include a 20-storey hotel tower
that functions as a beacon for the entrance gate of the island
city. “Torre Pepa” is what the charismatic Cádiz Mayor Teófila
Martínez has always wanted, and it is right on time for the
celebration of the bicentenary of the publication of Spain’s
celebrated radical constitution. Better known as “Pepa”,
it took place in Cádiz, in 1812, and marked the end of the
war against Napoleon’s occupation and a major step towards
liberalism and democracy in Spain.
www.lusort.com
www.redevco.com / www.zonafrancacadiz.com / www.cadizspain.net
Gabriela Albergaria appointed
artist for Parque NorteSul: Accor’s
etap and ibis new super-units
for Lisbon
Scheduled to begin construction in 2009, the Parque NorteSul
project of the Accor/ Chamartín partnership comprises
etap and ibis units respectively with 400 and 500 rooms.
In addition, Chamartín will develop 250 apartment units
under the Studio Residence brand. Given the high visibility of
this complex from the Lisbon ring road (Segunda Circular),
promontorio devised a façade system that will incorporate
a public art project by the renowned Portuguese artist
Gabriella Albergaria. Given the harshness on the surroundings,
Albergaria has proposed drawing a forest pattern silk-screened
onto the façade’s precast concrete panels. In addition, the
different colour of pigments on the panels will serve to identify
each building and its function.
www.gabrielaalbergaria.com
A Room with a View: The Tivoli /
Banyan Tree partnership
strikes again
The renovation and 5-star upgrade of the Tivoli Carvoeiro
was part of a wider strategic repositioning of the hotel brand
of the Espírito Santo Group. Located right on the seafront
of Algarve’s unique coast, it was the subject of short-list
competition to which promontorio was invited.
The proposal included the renovation of all 270 bedrooms,
suites and public areas including the introduction of
an Angsana Spa by Banyan Tree.
www.tivolihotels.com/hoteis-portugal/destino/algarve/hotel-carvoeiro/lista.aspx
artist collaborations
Pedro Calapez, the artist’s studio,
in Lisbon (photo by the artist)
Working
with Artists
36
We have always considered art inseparable
from architecture and particularly from hotels
and tourism. That is why promontorio has
always worked together with contemporary
artists in the widest possible range of
commissions and collaborations. In fact we
are such art enthusiasts that between 1995 and
2003 we ran a non-profit gallery in our studio.
An early example of these collaborations was
a wall-mounted neon installation by Pedro
Portugal made for the 1990 National Book Fair
Pavilion of the Ministry of Culture, in Lisbon,
and another is the recently opened Tivoli
Victoria which incorporates site-specific
precast concrete bas-relief panels by Pedro
Calapez on the facades. Other projects have
involved artists such as Gabriela Albergaria,
Pedro Falcão, Gonçalo Barreiros, Ricardo
Valentim, Mariana Viegas, João Louro, Inez
Teixeira, Nuno Cera, Daniel Blaufuks and
Pedro Portugal.
37
• Pedro Calapez, Mod 02, 2007
• Gabriela Albergaria, Blenheim and 29th, Installation with a dead Oak, Vancouver
Artgallery, 2008
• João Louro, Rimbaud’s Spell, Collection of Serralves Foundation, Oporto, 2005
• Pedro Portugal, Dead Poets, National Book Fair Pavilion, Lisbon, 1990
• Nuno Ribeiro, The Lake Hotel, Vilamoura, 2006
• Inez Teixeira, Promontorio Gallery, Lisbon, 2001
38
• Gonçalo Barreiros, Salesman, Vera Cortês Art Agency, Lisbon, 2007
• Pedro Falcão, Vista Le Corbusier 1, Promontorio Gallery, Lisbon, 2002
• Ricardo Valentim,
Start Series (I Can Be
A Community Service
Worker, 1974; Faces of
Man: Germany, 1980;
North America: The
Continent, 1965), 2007
• Hugo Canoilas, Untitled, The Lake Hotel, Vilamoura, 2006
• Mariana Viegas, 5 Sequences on light boxes, Tivoli Victoria Hotel, 2009
• Nuno Cera, Unité d’habitation #5, 2008
39
• Illustration by João Fazenda, 2009
Buildings
Projects
& Concepts
by Promontorio Architects
41
• Archive photo of horse race at Marinha
Quinta da
Marinha in
Full Swing
Designer villas for Lisbon’s
leading golf resort
42
• Ground floor plan
43
• Quinta da Marinha
44
During the 2nd World War, to benefit from
Portuguese neutrality, exiled European
royalty and aristocracy began settling in
Estoril. Back then Cascais, which lies next
door, was little more than a fishermen’s
village with a wild and uninhabited coastline
of cliffs and golden beaches, stretching up
to Cabo da Roca, Continental Europe’s most
westerly point. When in the early 1920s the
wealthy army doctor Carlos Champalimaud
bought Quinta da Marinha, he already
envisioned the creation of a residential estate
of exceptional quality. Ninety years later,
Quinta da Marinha is one of the most affluent
addresses in the Estoril-Cascais area.
Just 30 minutes from Lisbon city and airport,
the estate is a comprehensive and mature
resort of some 400 hectares, including a
5-star hotel (and 6-star under construction),
luxury villas and condominiums, a health
& racket club and a famous equestrian centre
among other amenities and services.
45
• View towards the golf course
• View from the golf course
46
Crowning the resort, there are two
exceptional 18-hole golf courses: Quinta da
Marinha course designed by the legendary
Robert Trent Jones, Sr (5,870m, par 71) and
the Oitavos Dunes course by Arthur Hills
(6,303m, par 71). Both enjoy breathtaking
views of the Atlantic ocean and the Sintra
mountains across the magnificent stone pine
forest (Pinus pinea Linnaeus).
Overlooking Trent Jones’ 6th-hole, the
Quinta da Marinha Golf Residences is one
the very last sizeable plots available for
development. The 50 serviced-units
(40 apartments and 10 villas) which make
up the complex were specifically designed
to embrace with care the mature pine trees.
Inspired by the contrast between the steep
monumental cliffs of the coast line and the
ocean’s deep blue mass as geological metaphor
of the site, the small apartment buildings can
be seen as raw blocks of marble carved out of a
quarry. The voids or negatives that remain are
filled with water (private individual pools) or
invaded by luxurious landscaping (verandas
or private gardens).
47
Rooftop swimming pools
types
• 2−bdr
• 3−bdr
• 4−bdr
Villas
• 3−bdr villas
Quinta da Marinha Golf Resort Residences
Location Quinta da Marinha (Cascais), Portugal
Operator Howard Holdings (Portugal), sa
Programme 5-star serviced villas and apartments
Gross built area 9,500 sq. m
Project 2008 – (scheduled for opening in 2011)
48
Living room
Master suite
Bathroom and balcony
• Marina and bay of Cascais
Bring back
the buzz
Building on Cascais’
sailing tradition
• hrh King Juan Carlos, 3 rd trophy held
in Cascais, in August of 1998
50
• Presentation model
Located on the coastline halfway between
the Cape of Roca and the entry to the Port of
Lisbon (38º42’N and 09º25’W), the bay area
surrounding the Cascais Marina is regarded
by experienced sailors as one of the world’s
finest stretches of water. In the recent past
it hosted major races like the isaf Sailing
World Championship 2007, the 49th European
Championship, or hrh King Juan Carlos I’s
Trophy. These competitions have brought
together leading ocean sailors, like Russell
Cutts from New Zealand, the Australian Peter
52
Gilmour, Jesper Radich of Denmark, Geoffrey
Meek of South Africa, Bertrand Pacé of France
and Peter Holmberg of the Team Alinghi,
as well as sports enthusiasts and crowned
heads of Europe such as Juan Carlos of Spain,
Constantine of Greece and Harold of Norway.
Despite this glorious and inspiring past, the
current marina — completed in 1999 with 650
berths and a dry dock with a 70-tonne gantry
crane — is the outcome of an ill-fated design/
build/finance competition that resulted in the
insolvency of the developer a few years later,
and ultimately in the rescue by the current
owner, the Al-Baker Group (Marcascais sa).
The marina is located in one of the most
affluent and high-income areas of Portugal.
With a sailing tradition second to none in
Iberia, its current economic decline can only
be explained by a series of administrative
and municipal misfortunes, as well as by the
planning and design shortcomings of the
existing complex.
53
Waterfront promenade
Terrace pool
Commercial inner court
54
Commercial inner court
Marcascais sa, the current long-term
leaseholder of the Cascais marina, invited
promontorio to develop an integrated
masterplan to revitalize the whole site,
including its relationship with the adjacent
17th century military fortress, now to become
a multi-media centre. Making a tabula rasa
of the existing buildings, the project comprises
an underground car park, landscaping and
repaving of the public areas, new retail and
apartment buildings, and a hotel tower and
conference centre at the edge of the marina.
The retail and apartment buildings, located
on the central platform and surrounded by
berths, form a large three-storey perimeter
block, accompanied by ground floor shopping,
out of which emerge small and jagged
passageways, with narrow streets and alleys
leading to an informal main square sheltered
from the seasonal harshness of the Atlantic
wind. On the upper level, the serviced
apartments have a unique and exclusive
infinity pool overlooking the Atlantic.
This concentration of shopping, dining and
luxury accommodation will hopefully stir up
the lifestyle, the buzz and the allure inevitably
associated with leading marinas.
Cascais Marina
Location Cascais Marina, Portugal
Operator Marcascais, sa
Property Al Baker Group
Programme 154 luxury serviced-apartments with 10,000
sq.m of high-end retail at ground level.
Gross Built Area 37,500 sq.m
Project 2008 – (scheduled for opening in 2012)
55
• View from citadel
56
The Lighthouse
A beacon in the bay of Cascais
As part of the Cascais Marina masterplan commissioned by the
leaseholder, promontorio designed a major hotel anchor.
At the end of the marina, in front of the super-yachts’ pier,
promontorio proposed an iconic 33-storey luxury hotel tower
symbolically spearheading the rebirth of Cascais as a key tourism
destination within the Lisbon region. The Hotel of Light, or
Lighthouse, evoking the medieval fortress’ name, is positioned
at one of the most westerly points of Europe, evocatively
confronting Manhattan across the Atlantic, and aims to create the
critical mass, dynamics and lifestyle that make marinas around
the world exciting and glamorous destinations.
57
58
Conceptually, and as a metaphor of the
site, the building’s winding profile is
mathematically generated from an elliptical
plan, rotating on a structural compact
core where the elevators, stairs and shafts
are located. The project will meet the
highest environmental standards of design
sustainability, namely leed (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design), an
evaluation that takes into account not just
the structure itself but its environmental
sustainability throughout its entire lifespan.
The building’s skin, with a triple-layer
glass facade and floor-to-ceiling windows,
resonates the metaphor of a fish skin while
integrating high-performance sun protection
and aerogel based glare-free interior lighting.
In addition, the facade’s panels in bipv
systems (Building Integrated PhotoVoltaics)
will produce a substantial amount of the
energy consumed in the hotel.
Hotel da Luz
Location Bay of Cascais, Portugal
Operator Marcascais, sa
Programme 5-star all-suites 240-bdr hotel, 600-seater
conference centre, restaurant and spa
Gross Built Area 25,250 sq. m
Project 2007 – (under municipal discussion)
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• View from the bay of Cidade da Praia
t
o
w
e
r
p
o
w
e
r
The hidden
solidity behind
the precarious
balance of Cape
Verde’s icon
60
The Republic of Cape Verde is a 10-island
archipelago located in the Macaronesia
eco-region of the North Atlantic Ocean,
off the western coast of Africa. The previously
uninhabited islands were discovered and
colonized by the Portuguese in the 15th
century and attained independence in
1975. Cape Verde is a small nation that lacks
resources but is a peaceful and human rights
abiding country, which has in consequence
received considerable trust and support from
countries and international organizations,
including the un, the wto, the eu and the
usa. Notwithstanding its lack of rain and
droughts, Cape Verde has experienced a
spectacular growth in tourism investment in
the past decade.
61
Following the opening of the Cape Verde
subsidiary of the Espírito Santo Bank, the
holding company considered opening a hotel
and convention centre through its tourism
division. Standing next to the presidential
palace (and former Portuguese governor’s
residence), the 20-storey tower is designed
as a light beacon across the Praia harbour.
Gracefully located below and detached from
the base to the soon-to-be-listed unesco
World Heritage Site of the “Plateau”, at first
glance the tower can be seen as a series of
volumes on the verge of collapse, but at closer
range the concrete central core gives evidence
of its solidity.
The former 18th century Portuguese army
fortress of Cidade da Praia standing on the
plot’s hilltop is to be renovated and converted
into a restaurant, business centre and foyer
of the hotel. In addition, the masterplan
provides for the new head office of the
Espírito Santo Bank in Cape Verde.
• • Study model
62
• Extruded floor plans
GES Hotel & Tower
Location Cidade da Praia
(Santiago Island), Cape Verde
Developer Espírito Santo Group
Operator Tivoli Hotels /
Espírito Santo Tourism (Europe)
Programme 120-bdr 5-star hotel
tower 250-seater conference
centre and spa
Gross Floor Area 12,000 sq. m
Estimated Investment eur 12m
Project 2005
63
Hold
the
a new citadel
for the ´
old fortress
of cape verde
64
ding
Fort
• Map of Africa, 1660
65
• City market
Given the shortage and cost of skilled labour
in Cape Verde an entirely new approach to the
former hotel tower on the same site produced
a revised scheme in response to the need for
a construction system that would include as
much prefabrication as possible.
In addition to a spa, the hotel programme
was increased to 150-bdr with a focus on the
• Plateau
66
• Beach near Cidade Velha
• Bay of Cidade da Praia
• Bay of Cidade da Velha
4-star business and conference segment.
The main entrance and public areas were
placed on the ridge of the Plateau, right next
to the Presidential Palace and the scheme
included the renovation of the former 18th
century army fortress of Cidade da Praia.
The bedrooms and suites are now located at
the base of the cliff, slightly above sea level.
Like a loose Lego stack, the prefabricated
bedrooms are positioned in a jagged
configuration that evokes the shape of the
cliff. The space between the cliff’s wall and
the organic inner elevation of the bedrooms is
conceived as a botanic garden, irrigated with
desalinated water from the adjoining coast.
67
• Marine core motto
• Fortress from below
68
• Fortress courtyard
• Fortress garrison
Tivoli Cape Verde Hotel
& Business Centre
Location Cidade da Praia
(Santiago Island), Cape Verde
Developer Espírito Santo Group
Operator Tivoli Hotels /
Programme 150-bdr 4-star hotel
and conference centre
Gross Floor Area 12,000 sq.m
Project 2005 (preliminary study)
69
• Main lobby
Traveller’s
Choice
An interior design concept
with a window onto cultures
from 5 continents
70
Opened in 2005, the 5-star Lake Resort Hotel
& Spa is situated facing South at the mouth
of the Vilamoura Marina in the Algarve.
promontorio was invited to create an
Interior Design concept, given that the
exterior design had already been defined
by watg, in a sort of neo-Mediterranean
vernacular style.
Virtually bordering the Falésia beach, the
Resort is surrounded by a large and luxurious
landscaped area which includes a lake forming
part of the National Wildlife Ecological
Reserve and leading back into Portugal’s
largest Marina. Bordering this lake, there are
three large outdoor pools; one heated, and
one designed as an alternative beach complete
with a sand-covered bottom. The outdoor
facilities also include a floating restaurant,
a large garden, a multi-purpose court and
an open-air event area.
The Interior design concept is based on
the idea of “The Traveller” as an umbrella-theme and as an open window into other
cultures, particularly those which have been
part of Portugal’s history. At the same time it
encourages us to appreciate world diversity.
While the 14-metre dome-lobby is conceived
as a sober neoclassical space echoing the spirit
of the pre-ww2 grand-hotels, the rest of the
spaces are broken down in a rich architectural
mosaic of materials, colours and textures
reflecting different sub-themes: from the
Fusion to Mediterranean cuisine restaurants
and bars, to the Jaipur Indian foyer tearoom.
The bedrooms reflect the same philosophy
as the hotel, — simplicity combined with
luxury — with the bathrooms as harmonious
extensions of the bedrooms, separated only by
oak sliding doors.
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Finally, The Spa is in line with the Traveller’s
original concept in that it aims “to find a
perfect balance through Five Continents
and Five Senses”. The main segment is the
“Blue Spa” which acts as reception and has
generous heated jet pools, and five individual
treatment rooms mainly for hydrotherapy.
The exclusive “Green Spa” has five additional
rooms to provide dedicated forms of
body treatment, with special guest rooms
specifically devoted to Spa clients, thus
making it both convenient and private.
Exterior
Main lobby dome
Fusion restaurant
Tea house
72
Main lobby
73
Lobby bar
Sushi bar
Chill-out area
Spa
74
Mediterranean restaurant
Spa indoor pool
The Lake Resort Hotel & spa
Location Vilamoura (Algarve), Portugal
Developer Blue & Green Hotels
(Amorim Turismo, sgps)
Programme Interior Design for 192-bdr
(w/ 9 suites) luxury beach hotel
and spa resort, with 300-seat
conference and business centre,
and 92 serviced apartments
Gross Floor Area 24,000 sq.m (hotel)
plus 18,000 sq.m (serviced apartments)
Art Project Hugo Canoilas, Gabriela
Albergaria, Nuno Ribeiro
Investment eur 30m
Project 1996 − (open to public in 2005)
Awards Best Property,
Mipim Awards 2006
75
• Main entrance of villa
76
China
Beach
A sustainable resort
in Vietnam’s
surfers paradise
The Hoi An Resort & Spa is located 45
minutes south of Da Nang, the third largest
and fastest growing city in Vietnam, which
is fast becoming one of the dominant
tourism regions of Southeast Asia. It rivals
neighbouring areas like Bali and Phuket, and
leading hospitality operators such as Hilton,
Raffles, gmc and Intercontinental are moving
in. Da Nang’s international airport has direct
flights to Hanoi, Saigon, Bangkok, Moscow
and Singapore.
77
• Skyline from the beach
• China beach
• Marble Mountain
78
• Hoi An street
• Hoi An shops
Vietnam’s best known stretch of sand,
the famous “China Beach”, named during
the war by the thousands of American g.i.s
who surfed away their leave at this beach
base, is an idyllic stretch of sand that runs
uninterrupted along the coast from Da
Nang to the historic old town of Hoi An.
The drive from Da Nang airport to Hoi An,
with the morning mist hanging over the
shallow water in the rice fields and with the
Marble Mountain as a backdrop, is a picture
postcard setting.
• Roof tiles
• Stilt house on De Vong river
Hoi An is a listed unesco World
Heritage Site. The town is an exceptionally
well-preserved example of a Southeast
Asian trading port dating from the 15th to
19th centuries. Its charming buildings and
its street plan reflect both indigenous and
foreign influences. It has a compact urban
landscape of brightly hued two-storey
shop houses with terracotta tile roofs.
This amazing beachfront property is located
at the gateway of Hoi An, forming a quasi-peninsula and at the back overlooking
the De Vong river.
• The market at Hoi An
79
• View from inner road
80
• Party propaganda
• Rice fields on De Vong river
• Party issued social housing
• Hoi An river promenade
• My Son temple invaded by forest
• My Son temple
• Terracotta temple
• Promenade bridge
promontorio was invited to
develop a Master Plan concept for a fully
sustainable resort. The brief stipulates
that the ecological system be preserved,
as well as the equilibrium of the fragile
cultural fabric, and that disruptive
changes in the social structure of the
town, in its local commerce, its lifestyle,
its routines, its crafts and means of
subsistence, should also be avoided.
The architectural concept draws
the nearby Hindu sanctuary of My Son
~ Sσn), another unesco World
(My
Heritage Site in the region: an impressive
ensemble of temples dedicated to the
Indian deities of Linga and Shiva from
the extinct Viet Nam Champa dynasty
dating from the 4th to the 12th centuries,
many of which were seriously damaged
by bombing in 1969. Standing along
a deep and mysterious valley, these
totem-like structures stand out as
elaborate sculptures in striking red
terracotta brickwork. This suggestive
presence is echoed in the design of the
resort both in terms of scale, material
and texture. On the beach there rises
a series of slim and long volumes that
feature double-height living rooms,
cross-ventilated patios and mezzanine
master-bedrooms.
Hoi An Beach Resort & Spa
Location Da Nang region, Vietnam
Developer bta Development
Investments, Vietnam
Plot size 120 ha
Project 2008 - (2012)
• Ancient indian deity
• Terracotta brickwork detail
81
• Troia peninsula
Gateway to
the Dunes
Mixed-use complex on the
tip of the Atlantic
82
Tróia is a unique and delightful peninsula
located 50 Km South of Lisbon, between the
mouth of the Sado River and the Atlantic
Ocean, and across the river from the fishing
and port city of Setúbal. This fragile landscape
and exceptional dune habitat was the setting
for a large-scale tourism project at a time
when new destinations like Acapulco,
Las Palmas and Miami were being developed.
Construction of the Troia Resort, formerly
known as Torralta, began in the early 1970s
and was abruptly halted in the aftermath of
the 1974 revolution. Following the Zeitgeist,
this vast tourism project aspired to become
a true city of leisure, with facilities such as a
marina, golf course, hippodrome, museum,
gymnasiums, shopping mall, movie theatres
and restaurants, besides apartments, hotels
and condominiums.
83
diagram of functions
New wing
Hotel
Conference centre
Theatre
Casino
Rooftop deck
Lounge
Pool bar
Health club
Interior pool
Kids club
Kids pool
Service docks
Hotel atrium
Theatre
New wing
Lounge
Pool bar
Health club
Interior pool
Kids club
Main entrance
Technical box
Conference centre
Infinity pool
Passage from hotel to casino
Casino
84
Theatre
Hotel
Casino canopy
Theatre
main entrance
B&G restaurant
Hotel entrance
Conference canopy
New Wing
NYX lounge bar
Terrace
Spa
Lounge bar
Salinas brasserie
Main square
Parking exit
Conference Centre
Parking entrance
Secondary entrance
to conference centre
85
• Section thru theatre and atrium
86
Study model built version
Studys models
Studys models
87
• View from the marina
88
The resort was located on the northern tip
of the peninsula, and all that remained,
besides a number of scattered facilities,
was the unfinished concrete shell of a
14-storey atrium hotel, which had been
designed by the late Conceição Silva.
The new hotel project comprised the
complete renovation and extension of this
shell.The Design Hotel is the gateway and
anchor for the Troia Resort and forms a key
part of the € 450m general redevelopment.
promontorio was already involved in
the resort on behalf of the Sonae Group.
The new complex will have more than
70,000 sq.m of space and will include a
5-star hotel, full-service luxury residences,
a spa, a conference centre and a theatre with
a mechanical stage. The concept was that
modern facilities and technology be installed
in the existing building but that otherwise
it be restored and renovated following
the original 1970s design principles. The
new buildings particularly the undulating
apartment wing facing north, create a
decisive contrast in both material and
form with the dry and structural bareness
of the early building. A Blue & Green
destination spa focused on seawater-based
thalasso-therapy and a rooftop infinity pool
seemingly merging into the vast blue deep
of the Atlantic are some of the other features
and amenities of this vast hotel complex.
In addition to the Hotel building, the Theatre
is a facility that will complement the casino.
From a technical point of view it resembles a
normal theatre, including a mid-size stage,
under-stage, prep areas, dressing rooms,
catwalk, etc. Moreover, the auditorium and
public areas were designed to provide for
mixed and simultaneous uses such as concert
and banqueting, up to a capacity of 500.
At the Eastern end of the complex there
is a state-of-the-art Conference Centre with
a double-height hall and a capacity of up to
1,000 people. This area can be subdivided
into two separate rooms with independent
entrances and foyers, and areas of use and
formats can be tailored to the requirements
of each event. In addition there are 12
multipurpose breakout rooms for up to
100 people with a separate entrance and
foyer. All the catering services and technical
support are provided through a main vertical
shaft at the core of the complex which is not
visible to clients.
89
View from hotel main entrance
90
Verandas
Verandas and canopy
Conference centre canopy
Verandas at sunset
91
Bedroom corridors
Bedroom with art project by Daniel Blaufuks
14−storey atrium
Atrium skylight
Troia Design Hotel
Location Grândola, Portugal
Developer Amorim Turismo, sgps
Programme Luxury hotel with serviced
apartments, conference centre,
theatre and spa
Project 2005 - (open to the public in 2009)
92
Bathroom
14−storey atrium
93
A Ben
the
• Town of Alcacer do Sal
94
nd in
Contemporary design in a
historic riverfront setting
95
Set in the historic city of Alcácer do Sal,
the finisterra project, which comprises
30 state-of-the-art holiday apartments,
is located on the edge of the city’s
riverfront boulevard. All the units have a
riverfront panorama, which is framed by
the rice marshlands, the cork fields and
the pine forests on the opposite riverbank.
On the south side the trapezoid plot faces
the river and to the north the Santa Luzia
road leads up to the castle and the core
of the medieval district.
96
View from condominium pool
View from private rooftop pools
97
Following the dominant shapes of Alcácer’s
skyline, the building emphasizes the
surrounding streets, dissolving into the
overall image of the city. With its good
position on the Western edge of the city,
the building forms an “L” shape facing south,
and a system of undulating cantilevered
verandas which serve as an outdoor extension
of the apartments shelters its fully glazed
sliding curtain from the sun.
Apartment interior
98
The raised platform slab, which has
parking and storage below, provides not only
a raised height from the street level, but also
a vantage point so that all the apartments
benefit from the riverfront views. The top
of this platform also accommodates private
gardens for the ground-floor apartments,
and a large condominium pool with an
infinity-edge facing the river.
The third-floor apartments have private use
of the rooftops, where there is a landscaped
leisure area with small pools, barbeques
and sun-bathing/chill-out areas.
Finisterra Apartments
Location Alcácer do Sal, Portugal
Developer 541, Investimentos
Imobiliarios, Lda
Programme 30 riverfront
serviced apartments
Built Area 42,000 sq.m
Project 2006 - (to open in 2010)
99
Village Green
A traffic free village with
a cork forest at its core.
The Portuguese word “Aldeia” means a
village, and that is to a large extent the main
concept behind aldeia de santiago.
It is close to the town of Alcácer do Sal,
the social, cultural and economic centre of
the area which lies 80 km to the south of
Lisbon and is the gateway to the Alentejo’s
unique coast line. With its riverside cafes and
restaurants, its picturesque medieval centre,
100
its narrow streets and historic monuments,
Alcácer offers visitors a varied choice of
ways to relax and enjoy themselves.
The masterplan is rooted in the specific
character of the site and its landscape, in that
it echoes the likeness of the existing villages
that over the years have grown up around
the perimeter of the town.
• Masterplan • Aerial view
101
• Clusters
The Aldeia, with its clustered houses,
its meandering streets and its squares,
attempts to create the atmosphere of a
traditional village whilst still providing an
environment where residents and tourists
can enjoy modern comforts and amenities.
The venerable cork forest at the core of
the property is undisturbed and has been
carefully preserved, but it is integrated into
carefully planned bike and jogging circuits.
Architecturally the design is
contemporary but draws on the traditions of
the region. Car traffic is restricted to the loop
service road that surrounds the property
while the concierge, housekeeping and other
services use electric golf carts.
• 1−bdr
• Study models at Promontorio’s office
• 3−bdr
102
• Study sketches
103
1−bdr unit
2−bdr unit
104
2− and 3−bdr units
4−bdr villa
105
• Aerial view
Aldeia de Santiago
Developer Ongoing Group
Programme 235 one- and
two-storey villas, restaurant, clubhouse,
pools and resort facilities
Plot Size 30.6 ha
Project 2006 - (open to public in 2012)
106
107
• Site plan
Sunrise at
the Sheraton
Pine Cliffs
20 New villas in a
leading Algarve Resort
108
Located in the vicinity of the old fishermen’s
village of Olhos de Água, within the
municipality of Albufeira, the Pine Cliffs
Vacation Club is one of the most exclusive
golf and beachfront resorts of the Algarve.
Currently under the management of
Starwood’s top brand The Luxury Collection,
the resort boasts high yearly occupancy rates
and RevPar ratios, and property values are
also very high.
promontorio was commissioned to
design 20 freehold units with three- and fourbedrooms for one of the remaining plots in the
Pine Cliffs masterplan. Sheltered by a dense
pine forest, the units form a twin L-shape
amphitheatre towards the convex hilltop of
the surrounding area.
Close to the entry main road, facing North
and away from the beach and the golf course,
townhouses were chosen in the masterplan
instead of apartments, private space in the
plots was maximised by introducing interior
patios and roof terraces and the cubic
volume of space was increased by creating
open isle kitchens and dining areas, and
double-height living rooms, although the
latter were ultimately discarded to create an
additional bedroom. This indoor-outdoor
fluidity aims to meet the outdoor lifestyle
of a golf and beach resort, with the open
• Study model
110
social areas downstairs and the bedrooms
upstairs. The interior patio, in the house core,
maximizes views across the space and gives
natural cross-ventilation.
The complex forms a monolithic built
mass made of whitewashed plastered masonry
walls, broken by a series of walled patios
and a polyhedric roof made of custom-made
flat white-enamelled tiles. In addition the
buildings’ materiality is emphasized by the
solid wood frames and panelling.
• Construction site
111
View from the pool
The Terraces at the Pine Cliffs Sheraton Algarve
Location Albufeira (Pine Cliffs Resort), Portugal
Developer United Investments (Portugal)/
ifa Hotels & Resorts
Brand The Luxury Collection
Management Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide, Inc.
Programme 20 units of two and three-bdr
luxury townhouses with interior double-height
patios and landscaped pools
View from exterior path
Living room and patio
112
Private garden
Kitchen and patio
113
• Aerial view
Golf meets contemporary land art
fairways
Alcácer do Sal is a small medieval town, 80 km south
of Lisbon, located at the gateway to the Alentejo’s
unspoiled Sado Wildlife Park. Crowned by an
impressive castle whose foundations were laid by the
Arabs in the 8th-century, the winding streets and alleys
of this charming town cascade down a steep slope on
the northern bank of the River Sado.
114
at the gateway to the Alentejo
of art
115
Oak forrrest cabins
Lake villas
Hotel boulevard
Lake St.
Sunset St.
≤ Alcacer do Sal
Club house St.
Tennis courts
Resort reception
Gateway
27 km along a dazzling road by the river
and across the natural park, one reaches a
unique sea front of 70 km of uninterrupted
white sand beach, in what is considered to be
the up and coming destination for Portuguese
tourism in the future. It is expected that more
than eur 3,000 million will be invested here
within the next four years, including a variety
of brands such as Aman, Park Hyatt,
Six Senses and Raffles, and signature golf
courses by the likes of Robert Trent Jones,
David McLay Kidd, Jack Nicklaus, Donald
Steel, Santana da Silva and Cabell Robinson,
among other leading designers.
116
The alcacer art & golf resort is
located near the town, on the opposite bank
of the river. The endless rice fields which line
the flat river help create a landscape which
recalls at times the Southeast Asian serenity
of Vietnam or Cambodia. The soil is comprised
mostly of dunes of white sand dating from the
quaternary period, and in fact this region is a
renowned supplier of sand for golf courses.
Sado river
Condo-hotel and
conference centre
Golf course
Golf villas
Driving range
Golf maintenance centre
Clubhouse and restaurant
Village of Arez
N382
Valle do Guizo ≥
117
• Aerial view from south
The resort lies within a sparse but mature pine
forest (Pinus pinea), and it promises to offer
the perfect golfing terrain but yet to require
minimal construction. Using the vegetation as
its very source of inspiration, the course will
keep most of the native vegetation, as well as a
great deal of open sand.
In addition, the alcacer art & golf
resort includes a radical and exciting
new proposition: an international Public
Art project along the line of the fairways,
curated by the leading art critic Miguel
Wandschneider. Inspiringly, land art projects,
sculptures and permanent installations will
be strategically placed to generate a parallel
promenade offering different insights and
approaches to the golf course.
• View from the future hotel
118
• Aerial view from east
Urbanistically, the masterplan
challenges the typical assumptions of
resort design, by embracing a notion of
organic growth rooted in the specific
character of the site and its landscape.
The project summons up the powerful
image of the Alentejo’s whitewashed
villages growing over the centuries by
gently adapting to the topography with
beauty and simplicity. The alcacer art
& golf resort attempts to recreate
the urban character of a traditional
village, with its organic and trapezoid
plazas, its meandering streets and alleys,
accompanied by variable leveling, bowed
angles and fragmented vistas. Different
house types and sizes, from the clustered
lake townhouses to the golf club villas
or the cork forest cabins, in addition to a
cloistered hotel with stunning views of
the Sado, are bound to make this project
a success.
Alcacer Art & Golf Resort
Location Arez (Alcácer do Sal),
Portugal
Developer Salk Properties
(Portugal), sa
Programme Hotel, conference
centre, health & fitness centre,
spa, 18-hole golf course with
land art project and clubhouse,
golf villas, serviced apartments
and townhouses.
Plot Size 110 ha
Project 2008
(open to public in 2013)
• View from the golf’s future 4th-hole
119
In Vino Veritas
The pleasure
of living and
farming in
a modern
vineyard
120
The vines is located right next to the
upcoming 18-hole pga golf course of
the art & golf resort, within the
medieval town of Alcácer do Sal. Adding yet
another layer of value and differentiation
to this destination, the vines is a wine
inspired concept, rooted in the region’s
characteristic winemaking tradition.
Wine production plays an important
part in the identity, culture and financial
sustainability of the project. The beauty
and character of the vine landscape and the
simplicity of rural life find their counterpart
in the multiple aesthetic and sensorial
experiences associated with outstanding
food and wine.
On a gentle slope facing south and
overlooking the Carrasqueira estate,
the villas and townhouses are organized
in small cascading clusters evocative
of traditional Alentejo agricultural
compounds. The terrace provides areas
where children can play and neighbors can
meet. Two small lakes surround one of the
housing clusters, and the main building
is beside the other. The lakes which serve
as a sustainable water-retaining basin for
agriculture also refresh the air and increase
the humidity.
122
The main anchor of the resort is its
winery building. Property and fractional
owners can have their own grapes
harvested and vinified, and with the
assistance of a leading oenologist the
whole process can be completed up to
barrel aging and bottling. In addition,
this main building functions as a
clubhouse for guests and visitors, offering
conference facilities, a wine-tasting bar,
a gourmet restaurant and a delicatessen,
as well as a wine-based spa, a fitness
centre and an indoor relaxation pool.
Wine from the alcacer vines will
be produced by salk properties in
partnership with a producer of reference.
With approximately 10 hectares of vines
planted the wine to be produced here will
have its own singular character within the
Official Wine Region of the Sado Peninsula
(doc region), whose traditions date back
to Greek and Phoenician times. Its soil is
composed mostly of lime and sandstone
and the climate is Mediterranean
subtropical with low variations in
temperature given the proximity to the
sea. The recommended varieties of grape
for red wine are: Alicante Bouschet,
Aragonez, Syrah, and Tempranillo; and for
white wine Antão Vaz, Arinto, Sauvignon
Blanc and Maria Gomes are the most
suitable grapes.
123
typoligies
• Semi-detached 2−bdr unit expandable into 3−bdr
• Semi-detached two-storey 3−bdr unit with upper patio
• Semi-detached single-storey 2−bdr unit
• 4−bdr villa
• Winery building & spa
124
• Study sketches
125
2-bdr & 3-bdr units by the lake
Alcacer Vines
Location Arez (Alcácer do Sal), Portugal
Developer Salk Properties (Portugal), sa
Programme 224 units of 5-star serviced
villas and townhouses with clubhouse,
reception, bar delicatessen, organic spa,
health and fitness center, wine cellar
and production.
Plot Size 35.1 ha
126
2-bdr & 3-bdr units
with kitchen gardens
Townhouses overlooking the river
Winery building & Spa
Townhouses overlooking the lake
Winery building view from the lake
4-bdr Villas seen from the Vineyards
4-bdr Villa
127
• View from west
Get the
A surfers paradise on the
coast of Portugal
128
right one
Based on a high-tech artificial surfing
pool dreamwave is an alternative surf
destination available for training or
learning, for when lack of swell or tide
conditions prevent surfing in the sea,
or simply for the fun of it. It promises
to deliver a unique and groundbreaking
experience in the surf world. It aims not
to fake nature’s experience or compete
with it, but to emulate its most challenging
element: the waves.
dreamwave has been developed in
a joint venture between billabong,
the world’s leading fashion and apparel
surf brand, and its Portuguese partner
despomar, experts in market strategy,
in association with the Department of
Hydraulic Engineering at the university
of insbruck, who did the scientific
research, and promontorio, who
have designed the architectural and
retail concept. In addition, the team’s
know-how has been complemented
by insights and contributions from
leading surf professionals from Portugal
to Australia.
129
Both for its natural beauty and its surf
tradition, the location selected was the
town of Cascais. The wave produced by the
dreamwave system is power adjustable,
making it challenging and exciting for
everyone regardless of technical level of
surfing, from juniors to professionals.
Given that it is the first artificial wave
scientifically engineered to achieve similar
height (from trough to crest), length,
propagation and interval as the ocean waves,
dreamwave will boost Cascais as a unique
surfer’s destination worldwide. In addition to
the surf pool, the complex amenities include
a café and restaurant, a chill-out and party
zone, a surf shop and an interactive museum
of surf.
• View from east
130
• Schematic plans
• Schematic perspectives
Dreamwave
Location Cascais, Portugal
Developer Dreamwave
Holding GmbH
R&D Billabong/ Despomar/
Uni Innsbruck/ Promontorio
Programme Surfing pool with
café-restaurant and surf shop
Project 2007
131
• Gravitational stage 2: Water element
Casino Royale
132
Bubbling with
excitement amidst
waves of colour
This new state-of-the-art casino and theatre is part of a large
resort in which PROMONTORIO as been deeply involved.
As an entertainment anchor, it will be a crucial element of
success by bringing excitement, energy and joie de vivre to
the destination. Inside, the casino boasts a glamorous 40m
double-height hall surrounded by an exclusive mezzanine
for private gaming. Echoing the natural curves of the nearby
sand dunes, the interior design concept is suggested as a core
bursting bubble that sends huge waves of light and glitter
across the hall. Synchronized with the ongoing event, this
bubble rises to different positions, changing colours and
generating different atmospheres. Around it, a series of lower
ceiling coved spaces serve specific functions, such as bars,
restaurant, cafeteria and cash points. On the second level, the
amenities include a panoramic veranda and a VIP gaming and
dining area.
diagram of flows
• Section • Plan
133
• Gravitational stage 1: Earth element
• Stage 1
• Stage 2
134
• Gravitational stage 3: Fire element
Bubble Casino
Location Undisclosed
Developer Undisclosed
Programme Casino
(architecture and interior design)
Project 2007 – 2009 (competition)
• Stage 3
135
Enhancing
Évora
A destination resort in a
World Heritage Site
136
137
• Roman Temple of Évora
• Church of Saint Francis
• Giraldo square, in the centre of Évora
The university city of Évora is the capital
of the Alentejo region and is listed as a
unesco World Heritage Site. Evora
resort is a masterplan for a property
of 900 hectares known as Sousa da Sé,
6 kilometres from the city centre and less
than 1 kilometre from the Lisbon-Madrid
highway exit.
The masterplan calls for a 60 ha lake
with a 36-hole w golf course. There will
be a 40 ha first class vineyard at the centre
of the project, which will also comprise
two hotels, a convention centre, a civic
centre, sports facilities, apartments
and villas. Provision has been made for
the agricultural and farming activities
to continue. The clusters of villas and
138
• Church of Graça
• Giraldo square / Church Saint Anton
• Caraça Alley
apartments will form a series of nucleuses,
which will reflect the style of the local
farm settlements known as “montes”,
and this will lead to the creation of small
neighbourhoods where families can
connect on a day-to-day basis.
More than a conventional tourism
resort, the project aims to become a part
of the expansion of the city of Évora,
which is currently under pressure from
lack of housing and space for development.
The objective is to create a balance between
tourism, the local inhabitants and the
agro-farming business.
Evora Resort
Location Évora, Portugal
Developer Frontino Turismo, sa
Programme Masterplan for a
resort comprising a conference
centre hotel with health & fitness
centre, and a vineyard boutique
hotel & spa, within a 36-hole
golf course, with villas, serviced
apartments, townhouses, football
pitch, training centre, tennis
& racquet club, kindergarten and
an elementary school.
Gross built area 280,000 sq.m
Number of units 1,470
Tourism beds 5,570
Estimated investment eur 223m
Plot Size 900 ha
Project 2008
Proposed green area
Golf course
Planned building
Scattered trees
Plot limits
Water course
Forrest
Buildings
Existing vegetation
Landscape design
Roads
Pasture
Vineyards
Bikeways
139
• View of rooftop terrace
140
Golfers
Paradise
Rooftop terraces on a sea of green
Golfers say it is the crown jewel of the
Algarve. Located near the historic city of
Lagos, commanding magnificent views of
the bay and the distant Monchique hills,
Palmares is one of the most beautiful golf
courses to be found anywhere. The miles of
white sands and dunes of Meia Praia, the
majestic Atlantic and the rolling hills provide
a unique backdrop for this spectacular course,
which opened in 1975.
Designed by the legendary golf architect
Frank Pennink, and enlarged by Robert Trent
Jones, Jr., Palmares runs along gently undulating
valleys bordered by pine, almond and fig trees,
with a panorama of 25 km of the Atlantic
coastline. During the spring the fairways and
hills are covered with flowering shrubs. The
blossom from the almond trees, which line the
vibrant green fairways, give the impression of
snow covered trees beneath the warm sun.
141
It is in this unique context that
promontorio won the competition
for the design of the first properties to
go up under the new masterplan. The
34 semi-detached townhouses have
been placed in a widening U-shaped
trapezoid to make the most of the
golf and ocean views. The car-free
cluster forms an informal and densely
landscaped piazza with pine trees
(Pinus pinea) providing refreshing
shade from the sun.
Following the success of The
Terraces at Pine Cliffs, these two-storey units have also been conceived
as patio houses, with interior
• • Study models
142
courtyards. These maximize the
spatial fluidity and increase natural
cross-ventilation thereby reducing
the need for mechanical cooling.
The rooftops have been transformed
into a place of relaxation and pleasure
with jacuzzis and a kitchenette so
that light meals can be prepared and
the dazzling views enjoyed.
The semicircular arches have greater
depth and form barrel vaulted domes
in some cases and shading pergolas
in others, which give the complex a
distinct Mediterranean character and
sculptural presence.
Rooftop barrel vaults
View from the kitchen
Living room with patio
Pathway between houses
Palmares Golf Townhouses
(Villas da Ria)
Location Palmares Resort,
Meia Praia (Lagos), Algarve
Developer Onyria Group
Programme 5-star serviced
townhouses
(34 units)
Golf designer Frank Pennick
(18-hole/ Par 71/ 5,961m)
and Robert Trent Jones Jr.
(additional 9- hole)
Project Competition 1st-prize/
2008 - (to open in 2011)
143
• Original plan
A penthouse for
an Art Deco Gem
Vintage
Works
144
145
• New penthouse extension
Successfully restored to its elegant
1940s appearance, this landmark
hotel designed by Cassiano Branco
is both charming and comfortable...
…this gem of a hotel was designed
by Cassiano Branco, it is a true
museum-piece of 1940s architecture
and now ranks among Lisbon’s
classified buildings.
Michelin Green Guide to Portugal
Special Places to Stay Portugal
146
Built in the 1940s and recently
extended, the Britannia is a wellpreserved Art Deco gem…
Lisbon’s only surviving
original Art Deco hotel…
Wallpaper*
Condé Nast Traveller
147
Elevator
Armillary sphere with caravele
Wall fresco
Living room
Main entrance
Bar
Silverware
Coasters
148
Room key-holders
Barber shop
Cahndeliers
Barber utensils
Marble bathroom
Cash register
Glassware
149
floor plans
• Ground floor
• 1st Floor
• 2nd Floor
• 3rd Floor
• 4th Floor
• 5th Floor
• 6th Floor
• Roof plan
Located in a quiet street just off Avenida
da Liberdade, Lisbon’s main avenue,
and with a touch of modern whimsical
nuances, the Britannia is a 1940s hotel
designed by the prominent modernist
architect Cassiano Branco and flawlessly
kept up to date with all its vintage
details. The project consisted of adding
a floor without damaging the quality
of the existing façade and interiors.
Barely visible from the street, this
discreet extension in zinc roofing and
solid oak siding, comprises eight new
luxury suites with recessed verandas.
The waxed cork floor tiles and the
massive Carrara marble bathrooms
in the extension were designed as an
evocative and contemporary homage
to Deco style.
Britannia Hotel
Location Lisbon city centre, Portugal
Developer Heritage Hotels
Programme Renovation and extension
to provide eight new luxury suites
150
Rooftop suite
Veranda
Bedroom
Carrara bathroom
151
• Avenida da Liberdade, Lisbon
Lifestyle, design and Feng Shui
come together in a city hotel
Busy, Busy,
Busy!
promontorio was involved in the creation
of Inspira, a new hotel brand resulting from
a joint venture between the Madeira island
hoteliers Blandy and Investoc, the holding
company of the Osório de Castro family.
Aimed at the leisure/city-breakers,
corporate and mice market segments, the
chain’s first hotel, the 89-bdr Inspira Santa
Martha, which is located on a street parallel
to the busy Avenida da Liberdade, is under
construction and is scheduled to open at the
end of 2009.
The plot consisted of a deep perimeter
block facing Santa Marta Street. On the
site, the remains of the façade of an early
18th-century palace and a large dilapidated
factory on the backyard. With 5 terraced
storeys above ground and three levels of
underground parking and technical areas,
the rooms are distributed around a deep and
long sky-lit atrium that begins in the foyer
and ends in a theatrical stairway functioning
as an informal lounge/event space.
153
In a play of light and shadow, both the
walls and the roof in the atrium are covered
and shaded by an interweaving solid oak
railing with a glazed skylight of zigzagging
heights. Serving as a distribution spine, the
various functions and amenities — such as
reading & relaxation areas, conference &
breakout rooms, and the new “atelier/studio”
concept— are casually placed along this
promenade. Next to the bar, the restaurant
has a direct street entrance as it aims to be a
gourmet and lifestyle spot attracting business
customers from outside the hotel. The Spa is
• Study model
154
located on the first floor and is also expected
to cater for outside customers, intentionally
making it inevitable for them to walk the
whole length of the atrium to reach it.
As a result of extensive research,
the concept for the standard bedroom layout
had two main goals: the first, to visually
augment the room’s perceived available space
and the second, to create a truly pleasing and
relaxing bathing area flooded with natural
light and with the lavatory playfully placed in
an intermediate zone. A multipurpose shelve
binds the space between the bath and sleeping
area. The graphics on the translucent bathtub
glass partition wall characterise the rooms
with video projections and graphic imprints.
The fundamentals of the Chinese Feng Shui,
promoting the reconciliation of the rules and
principles of energy fluxes, are imbedded
in every detail of the hotel design; the goal
being to situate the humanly built spaces in
accordance with the best qi spots.
• Model section of the lobby
155
plans and section
• 2nd Floor
• 1st Floor
• Ground floor / • Section through lobby
156
Model 1:1
Study model
Inspira Santa Martha Hotel
Location Lisbon downtown (Rua de Santa Marta), Portugal
Operator Inspira Hotels (Inspira sgps)
Property jv Blandy Group & Investoc
Programme 4-star 89-bdr city hotel & Spa
Project 2007 (open to public in 2010)
157
Citybreakers
take over
A short stay hotel with a unique allure
The Tivoli Jardim is a 4-star business hotel
designed in the 1960 by the leading modernist
architect Pardal Monteiro to complement the
adjacent 5-star Tivoli Lisboa, which he had
designed a few years earlier for the hotelier
Machaz. The 7-storey city hotel is currently
owned by the Espírito Santo Group. Located on
a parallel street to Lisbon’s main 19th century
boulevard, the hectic Avenida da Liberdade,
this hotel complex has become an important
part of the city’s modernist heritage.
• Option B-double
158
In 2008 promontorio won the first prize
in a shortlist competition for the renovation of
the building, including the restaurants and a
lobby bar. According to the briefing, Tivoli Hotels
aimed to create Lisbon’s finest corporate and
short stay hotel, offering an outstanding design
experience in one of the city’s best spots.
• Original flyer
• Option B-double
159
In relation to the bedrooms, the concept
consisted of enhancing sleeping areas by
bringing the bath and balcony area into the
room and offering a relaxing experience
even for the hasty no-frills business guest.
Transparency, simple forms, natural colours
and textures make a contrast with more
dramatic vertical elements such as organic
fabrics and lighting effects. An artistic design
with calligraphic prints decorating the glass
• Option A-double
• Option A-twin
160
partitions emphasizes the notion of a
never-ending human presence in the space.
On the ground level, the cosmopolitan
restaurant and lobby bar are full-scale
window screens to the city. The proposed
collection of vintage furniture and lighting
design associated with the small and intimate
terrace garden at the entrance forms a
boundary between the hotel’s common areas
and the bustle of city life.
Tivoli Jardim City Centre Hotel
Location Lisbon, Portugal
Operator Tivoli Hotels & Resorts
(Portugal)
Programme 4-star 120-bdr
boutique hotel
Project 2008
(1stprize/unbuilt competition)
• Option B-double
• Option B-twin
161
Check-in
to history
A contemporary hotel in an
xvii century framework
Located in the heart of Lisbon’s historic centre
the building comprises a 4-star hotel with 62
rooms and 4 suites. The area is known as the
Baixa Pombalina quarter as it was rebuilt under
the direction of the prime minister Marquês de
Pombal after the earthquake of 1755.
D. Maria II National Theatre
Rossio station
Rossio square
Figueira square
Misericórdia street
Mouraria
Bairro Alto
Madalena street
Camões square
São Carlos Theatre
São Luiz Theatre
Contemporary Art Museum
City Hall
Terreiro do Paço
Alecrim street
Cais do Sodré
162
• Comércio street
163
This particular area was not reclaimed land
but it was close to a swamp and its 18th century
woodpile foundations have been preserved
in a very sensitive and precarious balance
amidst the muddy debris of the earthquake.
The buildings result from what is arguably
one of the first European attempts to design
an anti-seismic structure. This anticipated
the standardization process of the American
“balloon frame” by over a century.
Therefore, only minimal changes to the
structure and building layout were acceptable.
Part of a street block, the scheme
comprises two buildings facing the parallel
streets of São Julião and Comércio. These
are connected at ground floor level, where
common areas, facilities, reception and other
services are located.
Given that most of the existing walls were
maintained, it was an interesting process to
adjust the Enlightened and rationalist matrix
of Pombaline architecture to the requirements
of a contemporary hotel. In terms of interior
design, the design attempts to convey a
quasi-voyeuristic unveiling of what would
be a contemporary interpretation of the
domesticity of a late 70s Lisbon home (the last
active occupants of this Pombaline quarter),
with its somewhat bizarre mixture of bubble
chandeliers, Formica furniture, wood veneers
and tiles. Unfortunately promontorio’s
interior design concept, as well as significant
details of the original project, were changed at
the client’s discretion.
• Typical floor plan
• Longitudinal section
164
165
Dining room
Double bedroom
166
Double bedroom
Room corridor
Vincci Lisboa Hotel
Location Lisbon
(Pombaline quarter), Portugal
Operator Vincci Hoteles (Madrid)
boutique hotel
Project 1990
167
Crown
and Anchor
A new westin as
masterplan centerpiece
168
The Westin complex stands at the top of
the Dom João ii Avenue and acts as the
crown of this main axis of Lisbon’s Expo98
masterplan. Behind it to the south is the
hilltop belvedere of Cabeço das Rolas,
with magnificent views of the Tejo River.
promontorio’s project is the
outcome of winning first prize in a shortlist
competition held by a private consortium
in 2001. promontorio produced a plan
and design for a mixed-use complex
comprising a 13-storey hotel and a
19-storey office building, both with their
main entrance from the main avenue.
Given the site, the buildings follow the
alignment of the avenue façades, opening
a panoramic and pedestrian relationship
with the Cabeço das Rolas and reinforcing
the reciprocity between the built and
the landscaped areas of the precinct.
Positioned perpendicularly, the two
buildings form a plaza at ground level, with
their blade-like configuration emphasizing
the skyline in a vertical crescendo that
reaches its peak on the avenue axis.
169
As a whole, the composition of the
ensemble suggests a certain expression
of monumentality as a response to the
eminently symbolic character of the Expo
plan. Monumentality here is regarded as
the relinquishing of a functional expression
in favour of bringing the building to its
essential type-form, a pristine expression
of representational and symbolic meaning
without forsaking its comfort and efficiency.
In this regard, the ensemble owes much of
its solemnity to the material and design of its
elevations. These façades, in large panels of
white grc and polished aluminium frames,
offer an image of solidity, durability and
low maintenance. The fact that the frames
are positioned unusually deep in the façade
provides natural shading for the glazing and
reinforces their composition.
• Westin plot on Expo’98 area
• Hotel and residences
typical floor plan
• Office building
typical floor plan
170
Inside, both buildings have high
atriums that rise up to the top floor
level of the lower adjacent wing. Lit by a
rooftop skylight, this large void functions
in one case as a lobby and in the other as
a space of corporate representation.
The Westin hotel programme comprised
192-bdr and 96-serviced studios and
2-bdr apartments, in addition to a
900–seat conference centre, business
centre, restaurant, health & fitness club
with outdoor pools, and a spa.
The Westin Lisboa Hotel & Residences
Location Lisbon Expo’98
(Parque das Nações), Portugal
Operator Starwood Hotels
& Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Property Cosadine, Sociedade
Imobiliária, SA
and 92-serviced apartments
(plus 16,000 sq.m of offices)
Project 2001-2006
(1stprize, unbuilt/concept stage)
171
Commissioned by the Emirates International
Investment Company (eiic) in collaboration
with the Municipality, promontorio is
masterplanning the waterfront of Canastel,
in Oran. Located on the northwest coast of
Algeria, it is the country’s 2nd largest city (pop.
2 million) and a major industrial, cultural
and educational centre of the region. This
stunning city was the home to Nobel Prize
winner Albert Camus, who used it as the
setting for both of his famous novels La Peste
and L’Étranger. French fashion guru Yves
Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, another
celebrated Oran-native, often claimed the
influence of his Algerian upbringing in the
spirit of his creations.
The easy going and liberal atmosphere
that pervades Oran has much to do with
its multicultural history. It was founded by
Moorish Andalusian traders around AD 937,
and due to its strategic location on the coast
it quickly developed into a thriving trade and
industrial centre with strong commercial
links to Spain. Ultimately the Spanish
occupied Oran, and although it was later
provisionally taken over by Ottoman forces,
they only abandoned it completely following
the earthquake of 1790. In fact, much of the
progress evident in contemporary Oran is
largely due to the French, who occupied the
172
city in the 19th-century. The city has a busy
working port, servicing cargo ships, fishing
boats and ferries that make regular runs to
Casablanca and Marseille.
Oran features some of Algeria’s most
breathtaking coastline, from the rocky cliffs
of Canastel to the nearby sandy beaches of
Ain el Turck. The falaises d’oran project
occupies a 5 km stretch of coastline, east of
the city centre, and aspires to become Oran’s
key tourism destination. It comprises a large
resort community including a shopping
centre, hotels, marina, mosque and an
aquarium. Across its nearly 300 hectares,
the site of falaises d’oran has a varied
topography that starts on the summit as a flat
plateau, and then the land drops160 metres
in a series of steep cliffs until it comes to the
shore. Large reefs and soaring bays outline
the deep cobalt-blue sea. The plot is flat and
narrow at the summit and widens towards the
base, but on the slopes the soil composition
becomes rough and rocky, forming a typical
terraced landscape with Mediterranean
vegetation along the stony banks.
At home with Albert Camus and
Yves Saint Laurent
173
Seaview villas
Seafront villas
Taking into account the complexity of the
topography, the falaises d’oran project
has a vast real estate component, both in
terms of uses, property sizes, numbers of
bedrooms and living rooms per unit and
lifestyles. The programme is more focused on
providing housing to be held freehold, but it
has nevertheless been designed to also offer
retail and offices. On the summit plateau,
the only sizable flat area of the available plot,
there is a mixed-use complex, which includes
a shopping and entertainment centre with a
hypermarket and other attractive anchors.
At the same time it links the existing urban
174
Semi-detached cliff houses
structure and the new expansion area.
This concentration has also been devised in
order to create an effective hub of services
and bustling commerce and to avoid cargo
and heavy transportation downhill. For
pedestrians an aerial cable car system
conveniently leads people from the shopping
centre main plaza to the entrance of the
aquarium, at the base of the cliffs.
The villas, townhouses and terraces
are organized in small cascading clusters
evocative of vernacular tradition in villages
and small towns. Echoing these picturesque
whitewashed communities, the ensembles
Private piers
Cliff townhouses
Main access
to and from
Canastel
Hotel beach resort
Beach townhouses
aim to generate a friendly and intimate
lifestyle, combined with a design-oriented
and refined atmosphere. Also in the spaces
generated by these generous and informal
clusters there are areas where children can
play and neighbours can meet. This idea
of cultural and social sustainability, which
helps create a spirit of community, is at the
forefront of falaises d’oran.
Even though the main occupants of
falaises d’oran will most likely be
permanent residents living in their
first-home, the programme is nevertheless
conceived to offer a diversity of amenities,
Semi-detached cliff houses
services and products that allows residents
to have an active and full life. With 400
moorings, including hoist, dry docks and gas
station, the marina is an important attraction
in falaises d’oran.
With a series of broken down volumes
surrounding the bay and forming small
piazzetas and patios, the marina’s public
space generates a sophisticated atmosphere
inspired by the highly successful examples of
outstanding Mediterranean marinas such as
Portofino, Cala di Volpe and Port Grimaud.
Cliff
garden
apartments
175
Mosque
Marina terraces
Marina townhouses
Yatch club
Marina
Close to the waterfront, and next to
the Marina Hotel & Conference Centre,
the Yacht Club stands as an exceptional icon,
offering visitors unobstructed vistas onto both
the marina and the sea. Cascading downhill
in a series of gentle terraces until reaching
the plateau immediately above the beach,
the 250-bdr Hotel & Beach Resort has been
conceived as a condo-hotel, while the Marina
176
Marina plaza
Hotel & Conference Centre, with 420-bdr,
will offer conference facilities for 1,000
people. For a master plan with the size of
falaises d’oran, certain amenities and
public services not only enrich and enliven
the place, but also bring it consistency
and quality of life. Thus an Aquarium, a
Waterfront Promenade and a Mosque,
complete the proposed facilities.
Marina hotel and
Conference centre
Algiers Falaises D’Oran,
Location Canastel (Oran), Algeria
Developer eiic
(Emirates International
Investment Company)
Programme Integrated
resort comprising shopping &
entertainment centre, marina
with 5-star marina hotel &
conference centre, 5-star beach
resort & destination Spa, villas,
townhouses, semi-detached
houses and apartments, mosque
and aquarium in addition to a
waterfront promenade serviced by
elevated tramway.
Gross built area 1,120,000 sq.m
Plot size 300 ha (5 Km)
Project 2009 (in progress)
Cable cart
Aquarium
Shopping centre
mixed use residences and office
Aquarium terraces
Main access to and from Oran
Aquarium garden apartments
177
• Bungo distric in Luanda bay
Tilting Skyline
A new vision for Luanda bay
promontorio has been invited
by a high profile developer
to design a large luxury
condominium to be located
next to the celebrated Hotel
Presidente and near the Luanda
bay waterfront promenade.
It will provide full service
apartments for extended stays,
which are much sought after by
expatriate executives.
178
179
A series of four towers with heights
varying between 24 and 32 storeys are sited
along the Bungo Avenue in a progression
of warped volumes on top of a continuous
two-storey plinth of offices and a boutique
shopping centre. Currently under study,
the project entails sophisticated systems
combining glazing and louvers to reduce
the amount of mechanical cooling required
in the buildings.
180
Luanda Star Towers & Residences
Location Luanda (Bungo), Angola
Developer Landscape Real
Estate, Inc.
Programme 380 extended-stay
serviced apartments with boutique
shopping centre and offices
Project 2009
• Typical floor plan
• Concept sketches
181
• View from the garden
Cool House
Relaxed living in fast growing Angola
182
Located in Benfica, a new suburb of
Angola’s fast growing capital, this private
condominium comprises 20 serviced villas
developed under a design-and-build contract
with the Portuguese contractor arc.
The urban concept of this small condominium
was devised in order to minimize soil impact
by creating the least possible road surface and
using native vegetation for the landscaping.
183
Veiled by the high bamboo fences,
the 20 villas of three- and four-bedrooms
are slightly raised from the ground forming
a boomerang shape of twin slabs elegantly
adapted to the plots’ diamond shapes.
Given the scarcity of skilled labour simple
technologies and materials were used.
To cope with the harsh tropical heat and
humidity, the concrete slabs have wide
overhangs with whitewashed plastered
masonry walls, in combination with
a screening system of vertical solid
wooden louvers that lets through Luanda’s
cooling breeze.
Study model
Study model
184
Villas de Benfica
Location Luanda, Angola
Developer arc, Alves Ribeiro
Construcções, sa
Brand Serviced condominium
Programme 20 three- and
four-bdr luxury villas
Project 2009
Living room
Dining area
185
Wine hq
An architectural delicatessen
for the gourmet
Promontorio, Lisbon
Sergison Bates, London
Winery building
Promontorio, Lisbon
João Luís Carrilho da Graça, Lisbon
Promontorio, Lisbon
Peter Maerkli, Basel
186
l’and vineyards is an inspiring concept
that results from a joint-venture between
the family based agro-business company
Sousa Cunhal and the boutique hotelier
Miguel Júdice of Quinta das Lágrimas.
This Vineyard Resort aims to combine the
lifestyle experience of wine production and
rural life with the sophisticated 5-star resort
service of Relais & Chateaux. Located in the
vicinity of the historic whitewashed town
of Montemor-o-Novo, in the Alentejo, it is
a little over an hour’s drive from Lisbon and
20 minutes from the city of Évora, a listed
unesco World Heritage Site.
At l’and vineyards, the vine and the
wine are more than part of the landscape.
This innovative and unique residential
tourism concept proposes wine as a personal
experience. Here, property owners will be
able to have their own grapes harvested
and vinified in the main winery, where the
necessary selection, crushing, fermentation,
pressing, barrel aging, blending, filtering
and bottling will be done. Property owners
will have the benefit of the expertise of the
distinguished Professor of Enology at Évora
University Paulo Laureano who will consult
each year on private wine production.
City of Montemor-o-novo
Promontorio, Lisbon
José Paulo dos Santos, Oporto
José Paulo dos Santos, Oporto
187
landscape concept
Courtyard of nucleus (night time)
Canal drop to lake
Tennis courts
Winery building
Town houses
Lake promenade
Lake pool
Lake promenade
Semi-detached villas
Main gate
Heliport
Lake pool
188
Secondary road
Olive trees
Courtyard of nucleus (day time)
Villas
Vine planting
Canal promenade
Service gate
Secondary road with vineyard
Courtyard of nucleus with pergola
• Drawing by João Nunes / proap
Main road
189
winery building
w
i
n
e
• • Concept diagrams
Production
1
+
Welcome +
Barrel Aging
+
4
+ Rest.
2
Spa
1 Patio Kindergarten
2 Patio spa
3 Patio Lounge
4 Patio Restaurant
• Study models
190
3
On a gentle valley facing south and
looking towards the castle of Montemor on
the skyline, the villas and apartments are
organized in clusters reminiscent of the
agricultural compounds of former times with
large patios or largos where children can play
and neighbors can meet. A beautiful 3 ha lake
refreshes the air and can be used for leisure
activities. It also serves as a sustainable
water-retaining basin for agriculture.
The resort has the highest environmental
rating of ecological sustainability ever
attributed in Portugal.
Besides the masterplan, promontorio
designed the main building, the serviced
apartments and a nucleus of villas.
In addition, promontorio was invited
to curate, in collaboration with the client,
the invitation to four other architects to
design the remaining nucleuses of villas.
The resort then became an exciting and
distinct architectural experience.
The other architects included Peter Maerkli
of Basel, Sergison Bates of London,
Carrilho da Graça of Lisbon and José Paulo
dos Santos from Oporto.
• Roof level
• Upper level
• Lower level
191
Entrance
Spa
Winery building
192
Patio spa
Cellar
Restaurant
193
villas
• Cluster of Villas
194
Villa in the vineyard
Pool
Living room
Living room and dining
195
townhouses
• Townhouse row
• Lower level type 1
• Lower level type 2
L’and Vineyards
Location Montemor-o-Novo,
Portugal
Developer Sousa Cunhal Group
and Lágrimas Hotels & Emotions
Programme 130 units of 5-star
serviced villas and apartments
with clubhouse, reception,
bar delicatessen, organic spa,
fitness center and wine cellar
and production.
Plot size 66 ha
Project 2005
• Roof level
196
View towards the lake
Kitchen
Living room
Veranda
197
• Ferraz-Bravo Manor
A Glass of Port?
A landmark in the heart of the old city
198
The 2-storey-plus-attic manor occupies a
characteristically deep and steep gothic plot,
and its lowest level and main façade face the
Rua das Flores. There is a split-level courtyard
between the lower Rua das Flores manor
building and the higher street level,
which has wonderful views towards the
cathedral hill. The courtyard contains a
baroque chapel by the Italian master architect
Nicola Nasoni, which was allegedly brought
onto the site from a nearby house and rebuilt.
© lfa
Located at the core of Porto’s unesco listed
World Heritage Site, the Manor of Maias,
also known as Ferraz-Bravo on account of the
family crest on the facades, dates back to the
16th century. A number of changes were made
by different owners and most of the current
building dates from the first quarter of the
19th century. The project consists of the
renovation and extension of the stately home
and its conversion into a 4-star hotel with
60 bedrooms and suites.
Porto’s Douro valley landscape with its
steep slopes and the densely packed buildings
of its medieval centre cascading down to the
swirling river is a unique and timeless sight.
199
• Study model
200
The new extension building faces
the higher street level and its impact
on the surroundings is reduced by
excavating a part of the courtyard’s
slope. There is natural light for all
the usable spaces, and a spa with an
indoor pool and a gourmet restaurant
have the benefit of this terrace.
Using a precast concrete system
stained with natural pigments, the
new façade subtly folds in a series of
vertical openings breaking down the
contrasting modernity of this volume
and bringing it into scale with the
smaller and picturesque historical
surroundings. For the same reason
the horizontal rooftop is covered with
a corten steel mesh that colour-wise
blends with the terracotta tile of the
nearby rooftops.
In order to emphasize the historic
character of the old listed palace, the
design strategy aims to preserve most
of the existing granite wall structure,
solid wood boarding and coffin
ceilings. The interior design has been
conceived as a way of combining
the grandiose spatiality of the old
building with present-day comfort
and state-of-the-art technology.
• 3rd level
• 2nd level
• 1st level
• Ground level
• Elevation from Flores street
• Longitudinal section
201
© lfa
Facade from Flores street
© lfa
Main entrance
202
2nd floor
© lfa
© lfa
Stairway
2nd floor
© lfa
Inspira Flores Hotel
Location Porto historic centre
(Rua das Flores), Portugal
Operator Inspira Hotels
(Inspira sgps)
Property jv Blandy Group
& Investoc
city hotel
Partner architects
[A] ainda arquitectura (Porto)
Interior design
Promontorio Interior Design
Project 2007
203
public presentation of original architecture model by león levi and his brother
Vilalara
comes
to life
204
Revamping an icon from the 70s
On a boat trip in 1966 Almeida Araújo,
a self-taught architect and artist, and his
English wife Jackie picked out from the sea
the eleven hectare site where the Vilalara
Resort is now located. Backed
by his father-in-law, the financier George
Ansley, and inspired by Sardinia’s
lavish Costa Smeralda, Araújo began
the construction of this unique and
ambitious project. In 1968, the birth
of their daughter Lara served as a motto
for naming the project “Vilalara”.
Following Jacques Couëlle’s Cala di Volpe
scheme at Porto Cervo, Araújo made
Vilalara into one of Portugal’s most
exclusive vacation clubs.
205
206
archive photographs
207
plans and original model
• Lower level apartment
208
• Upper level apartment
A few years later, the tourism
entrepreneur León Lévi visited the
property, falling head over heels
in love with it, and he eventually
bought it in 1970. By 1990, Vilalara
had opened its unique seawater-based
thalassotherapy centre for which
it was to become internationally
acclaimed. In 2007 Amorim
Turismo took over the whole resort
which is now managed under its
own brand, Blue & Green Hotels.
promontorio interior design
won the competition for the in-depth
renovation; one that included not
only the serviced apartments and
villas, but also the common areas,
such as restaurants, breakfast room,
bar and pool.
Without falling into pastiche, our
aim was subtly to recreate Vilalara’s
original ambience, by evoking the
characteristic elements, motifs,
textures, patterns and colours of
late-60s architecture. The typical
organic fluidity influenced by
Mediterranean and North African
vernacular with its riad-like rough
stucco, rounded corners and soft
material transitions and joints
coalesces with the intimate scale and
privacy of the apartments and the
stunning natural setting of Vilalara.
Bright hydraulic mosaics evocative
of the Tadelakt, the polished
lime plaster of Morroco, are used
extensively on the interior walls
and floors, echoing the spirit of the
traditional coating used in palaces,
hammams and bathrooms,
in combination with handmade tiles
and in-situ concrete tops.
The contrasting textures of stucco
lucido and wood surfaces in white
decapé serve to distinguish and
differentiate the different spaces of the
suites, i.e. sleeping, relaxing, dressing
and bathing. Because the spaces in the
existing building had been designed
on such a generous scale it was
possible to make the bath area in each
apartment into a truly exceptional
thalassic experience.
Vilalara Resort
Location Lagoa, Porches (Algarve), Portugal
Developer Blue & Green Hotels
(Amorim Turismo, sgps)
Programme In-depth interior design
refurbishment and infrastructure renovation
of 120-bdr and 11 apartments
Gross floor area 9,000 sq.m
Project 2008 – 2010 (Competition/ 1st-prize)
209
Boutique
Resort
Design lifestyle on the red
cliffs of the Algarve
• Ortho photograph of the plot
210
Overlooking the sea, the stunning red
cliffs of Benagil are the perfect setting for
the Algarve’s upcoming Benagil Retreat.
Devised in a series of parallel walls
superimposed on the plot’s gradient,
the master plan of the resort is
evocative of the Roman grid layout
(e.g. the cardus-decumanus main road
intersection in Pompeii, Herculaneum)
and its cultural remnants in the
Mediterranean landscape.
With a contemporary feeling,
the small and streamlined buildings are
designed to follow the line downhill to
the secluded Vila Marinha beach.
These structures have a variety of loosely
defined lengths forming intimate patios,
some containing trees and open terraces,
others generating private pools.
In addition, the various existing ruins
of vernacular architecture on the site
will be carefully renovated into bars,
restaurants, tearooms and other facilities
of the resort.
• Thermopylae’s captain awaits his rival Cutty Sark
• Aerial views
211
• Study model
Benagil Retreat, Algarve
Location Lagoa, Benagil (Algarve), Portugal
Developer Promovalor sgps, sa (The Inland Group)
Programme Hotel, conference centre, spa,
health & fitness centre, villas, serviced apartments
and townhouses
With Partner Architects dcm
(Denton, Corker Marshall Europe, Ltd)
Beds 972
(hotel 15,000/ apartments 30,000/ villas 26,000)
Plot area 74 ha
Project 2008 (opening estimated for 2013)
• Study model
212
• Concept sketches
213
Dedicated to Golf
A world class hotel to match
five world class courses.
214
Located right in the golfing heart of the
Algarve, Vilamoura’s new Tivoli is possibly
the best dedicated golf-hotel in the Iberian
Peninsula. Directly facing the Victoria,
Arnold Palmer’s masterpiece, and beside
two other world-class courses, the Laguna
and the Millennium, it is within one kilometer
of yet another two courses, the Old Course and the Pinhal.
This quasi-symmetrical building is formed
by a main central building and two bedroom
wings generating a U-shape facing west.
The programme comprises a total of
184-twin and 79-double bedrooms, in
addition to 14-junior and 2-executive suites
and a stately presidential suite with a private
terrace, garden and pool. Furthermore,
the hotel offers a large conference facility,
with a capacity for 950 people, which was
carefully placed in order to leave the life
of the hotel undisturbed.
215
• Technical elevation and section
216
A
50mm layer of gravel
Geotextile filter
40mm thermal insulation
Waterproof membrane
100mm screed finished to falls
250mm reinforced concrete slab
13mm waterproof gypboard suspended ceiling
Acoustic mineral wool insulation
White concrete precast panel verge
White concrete precast ledges
60mm steel dog
30mm sprayed thermal insulation
200mm concrete wall
20mm cement coat on 40mm fiberglass armour and thermal insulation
2mm zinc coping
B
3mm waterproofed black slate tile cladding on column
3mm waterproofed black slate tiles
Waterproof membrane
20mm weaker concrete laying
50mm screed finished to falls (1.5% pitched area)
150mm lightweight reinforced concrete slab
Waterproof silicon sealant w/ 30mm expansion joint
Maintenance removable 3mm waterproofed black slate tile
7mm stainless steel sheet support structure
10mm hydraulic micro-mortar gutter
Glass mosaic tiles on micro-mortar
250mm reinforced concrete tank
ø 80mm polished stainless steel
Aluminium fixed frame w/ anodized golden champagne coat
8mm laminated double glazing w/ 10mm cavity
Sun blind
White precast concrete threshold
• Aerial view during construction
• Upper level / Entrance
C
55mm ipê deck on 45mm wood frame
200mm i-section steel girder
Ditch (min. depth 1500mm)
150mm mansory concrete wall w/ 40mm sprayed thermal insulation
Geotextile filter
40mm thermal insulation
Waterproof membrane
Screed finished to falls (1.5% Pitched area)
110x60mm sucupira handrail w/ non-gloss varnish coat
35x8mm flat rolled steel bar
ø 21mm hollow 3mm section
Drilling and fixing on precast panel (60x25mm)
White concrete precast cornice and trim
Bas-relief precast concrete panels
60mm steel dog
40mm sprayed thermal insulation
250mm concrete wall
70mm spanish yellow fossil stone cladding
D
19mm gypboard suspended ceiling
20mm mansory wall finished in venetian stucco lucido
8mm x30mm travertine skirting
50mmx30mm sucupira wood skirting
30mm travertine stone
50mm screed finished to falls
Aluminium side-hung window w/ anodized golden champagne coat
8mm lam. double glazing + 10mm cavity
50mmx30mm sucupira skirting
60mm steel dog
140/140mm handmade and glassed coated tiles w/ watergreen pigment
340mm brick mansory wall
F
30mm algarve (bordeira) calcite stone
7mm algarve (bordeira) calcite stone gutter on metal girder
Waterproof membrane
Screed finished to falls (1.5% pitched roof area)
Waterproof membrane
• Lower level / Pool
60x35mm sucupira handrail w/ non-gloss varnish coat
8mm iron flat bar
ø 21mm round hollow 3mm section
Drilling and fixing on 60x25mm threshold
Waterproof membrane
G
22mm sucupira wood boarding
30x50mm sucupira wood skirting
100mm sucupira wood skirting
50mm timber-frame filled w/ mineral wool layer
Aluminium fixed frame w/ anodized golden champagne coat
8mm laminated double glazing w/ 10mm cavity
Waterproof membrane
Reinforced concrete foundation shoe
Bituminous carpet
Thermal insulation
Geotextile filter
Pvc drainage membrane
Pvc drainage pipe
217
The sense of arrival begins with the entry
plaza. With its three independent main
entrances and stone arcade, its function
is to separate the high-flux guests coming
as groups or for conferences into the
lateral porches, releasing the monumental
main entry for the individual visitors.
The glamorous two-storey foyer offers
magnificent views of the Victoria golf course.
From there, the guest can descend towards
the outside pools and bars, or go up to the
à la carte restaurant and the spa. The latter,
paved in heavy blocks of dark slate and deep
black stucco lucido walls, is a top-notch
facility managed by Banyan Tree, with a
central heated infinity pool and panoramic
veranda overlooking the Mediterranean,
just below another unbelievable sea of
green fairways.
218
Meticulously detailed in fine stonework,
solid wood and handmade ceramics,
the building echoes the spirit of pre-war
grand hotels, as it aspires to a contemporary
rethinking of classical splendour. The façade
system is a composite of massive yellow
Travertine stone blocks, white pre-cast
concrete lintels and light-gold anodized
aluminium frames. Also in pre-cast concrete,
and as part of the façade composition,
the artist Pedro Calapez designed and
moulded a series of decorative bas-reliefs.
• View of main building
219
East wing
Spa pool
220
Main lobby
Lobby bar
221
Main pool
Entrance square
222
• Views of typical bedroom
Tivoli Victoria Hotel,
Conference Centre & Elements
Spa by Banyan Tree
Location Vilamoura (Algarve),
Portugal
Developer Tivoli Hotels/
Programme 280-bdr Luxury Golf
Resort Hotel, Conference Centre
and Elements Spa by Banyan Tree
(12,000 sq.m below ground)
Art project Pedro Calapez
Project 2004
223
224
Arles up and
coming destination
on the banks
of the river
225
promontorio has been invited to design a
Golf Resort concept in the vicinity of the small
historic town of Arles. Strategically located in
the heart of the Provence/Côte d’Azur region,
17 km (30m drive) from Nîmes Airport and 65
km (50m drive) from Marseille International
Airport along the A7 Highway, it is the
gateway to the Camargue, one of Europe’s
richest ecosystems.
Arles became Roman after Julius Caesar
distributed the land among his veteran
legionnaires in 46 bc. The “Little Rome in
Gaul” as the city was dubbed, owes to this
history the splendor of its unique Roman
heritage including the monumental coliseum
that dominates the core of the old town.
This charming center, complete with its 17th
and 18th century aristocratic townhouses,
was listed as a unesco World Heritage Site in
1981. Arles is also the head of the Rhône River
delta, making the town a favorite stop for the
cruise boats going up or down river.
• Langlois draw bridge
• Forum
• Coliseum
• Coliseum arena
226
The name of Arles is closely connected with
the life and paintings of Vincent Van Gogh,
whose 15 months sojourn was the most
productive period of his life.
The site of the Golf Resort has much of
the most enticing quality of Arles: It is within
walking distance of the Old Town, next to the
famous Langlois draw bridge that Van Gogh
so obsessively painted, and it literally borders
the Rhone’s riverfront.
The masterplan comprises four different
areas that can be phased and run as
autonomous (but complementary) business
units: (i) a lifestyle retail centre with a health
& fitness club at the entrance next to the main
road; (ii) a 1,500-seater conference centre for
large events; (iii) freehold villas, townhouses,
and apartments designed for residential
tourism, long stays or retirees; (iv) and a
5-star hotel & spa with 120-bdr and an aparthotel with 100 lock-off units bringing the
serviced lodging capacity to 500 beds.
The 18-hole golf course covers the whole
property, but is centred around the hotel and
the clubhouse, a renovated farm building
located in the ecological reserve. 10 of the
18 holes plus the driving range provide a
unique memorable river promenade. The site
includes the existing 19th century Châteaux
of the Domaine Tour d’Aling which is located
approximately in the centre of the property.
It is a charming house surrounded by a dense
oak forest, and is due to be renovated and
converted into the resort’s business club and
gourmet restaurant.
• Châteaux Tour d’Aling
• Châteaux Tour d’Aling
• Aristocratic townhouses
• Typical shutters
Arles Golf Resort
Location Arles (Provence),
South of France
Developer Dhamma Asset
Management
Programme Hotel, conference
centre, lifestyle shopping and
fitness centre, spa, golf course
and clubhouse, golf villas,
serviced apartments, townhouses,
pools and resort facilities.
Built area 60,000 sq.m
Plot size 110 ha
Project 2008
• Sun clock
227
• Guarajuba beach
Tropical
Modern
228
The project comprises a 5-star hotel resort
with 282 bedrooms (226 doubles and 60 suites)
with a 500-seater conference centre and
residence-club with 56 lock-off units. It is
located 40 km North of the Salvador da Bahia
international airport, along the world famous
Estrada do Côco, between a coral-reef beach
waterfront and a natural subtropical lagoon.
A design inspired by
50s Brazilian Architecture
229
Study model
Study model
Ground floor plan
230
Inspired by Brazilian modernism of the
1950s, the building is formed by a central
core of two main blocks (reception-lobby
and conference centre), from which spring
skywalks leading to the East and West bedroom
wings respectively. The core building structure
is based on a matrix of concrete mushroom
columns, with the facades in a system of
concrete blade-like vertical louvers standing
next to a coloured-glass curtain wall.
Challenging the conventional U-shaped
footprint of international resort hotels, these
bedroom wings are positioned in a jagged
configuration that simultaneously expands the
diversity of ocean views and encourages people
to walk between the buildings and around
the gardens. In addition, there is a residence
club with serviced apartments and lock-off
units. These form a series of single-storey
volumes with barrel-vault roofs disposed in an
orthogonal matrix, creating a stunning contrast
with the landscape of dunes and coconut trees.
The beach-club and the spa have an
Alvorada-like arched facade that further
resonates the tribute to the Niemeyer aesthetics
that have inspired the overall design.
• Bethroom
• • Main building / Plan and section
231
Gourmet restaurant
Main building
Bridge to bedroom wings
Main entrance plaza
Melia Bahia Hotel Resort, Conference Centre & Spa
Location Guarajuba (Bahia), Brazil
Developer Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts
Programme 282-bdr units
(226-bdr and 60 suites) and resort with conference centre,
spa and 56-all suites lock-off residences
Associate architects Barbas Lopes, Cassia Cavani and afa
Consultant Álvaro Sans
Project 2004 (open to public in 2012)
232
Pool bar
Main lobby
• Aerial view
233
Riverfront Revival
Portimão to get state of the art Aquarium
and new river walk
• Aerial view of Portimão
234
Portimão is the second city of the Algarve
and is located on the coast in the western half
of the region. It has a population of 45,000.
Known by the Romans as Portus Magnus,
the city became a major departure point for
Portuguese explorers. Bartolomeu Dias,
for instance, set off from here in 1487 to
become the first European navigator to round
the Southern tip of Africa. In the 16th and 17th
centuries, fortifications were built on both
sides of the Arade River to protect the town
from piracy. However, most of Portimão was
destroyed in the Great Earthquake of 1755.
Though the city owes most of its economic
growth over recent decades to tourism,
its history reaches much further back to a
period of time when its fishing activity acted
as the main source of income for the town.
As testimony of the enduring importance of
fishing, the dilapidated riverfront and harbor,
with its bustling streets and urban life, is still
the town’s main attraction.
• Archive image
235
After promontorio won the design
and build competition for the redesign of the
riverfront, the municipal company ExpoArade
and builders fdo created the Rio Adentro
consortium.
This ambitious project features an
Aquarium based on the theme of the
pelagic realm, in addition to a Live Butterfly
Conservatory and a Multimedia Centre.
• Masterplan
The project also comprises restaurants, shops,
cafes, car parking, and the landscaping of
the whole river walk. Over 8 hectares of high
quality public space will be created along 2
kilometres of frontage, and the parts of the
historic centre that border the riverfront
will also be restored. Upon completion,
the renovated Portimão riverfront is expected
to generate an estimated million visitors a
year and to reduce considerably the town’s
seasonal dependence.
Formal gardens
Mixed use
Water gardens
Aquarium
Events platform
236
Insectarium
Skate
park
Originarium
Submarine
Bar
Restaurant
Cable car
Thematic gardens
Tourims office
North park
Commercial area
237
Sketches
insectarium
Schematic plans
Study models
aquarium
Sketches
Study models
238
Schematic plans
Schematic plans
originarium
Schematic diagrams
water garden
Sketches
Sketches
Portimão Riverfront Revival
Location Portimão riverfront
(Algarve), Portugal
Developer Rio Adentro Consortium
Programme Urban renewal
project, including aquarium,
live butterfly conservatory,
multimedia theatre, restaurants,
bar and tourism centre.
Media Turmar
(Dr. Paulo Serra Lopes)
Area 2 kilometres long
Project 2006
239
All
dressed
up!
A high profile
intersection for
Art and Architecture
240
Scheduled to begin construction at the
end of 2009, the Parque NorteSul project
is a joint venture between Accor and
Chamartín to develop a 1-star etap unit
and a 2-star ibis unit, with 209 and
264 rooms respectively. In addition,
Chamartín will develop 120 studios under
the Studio Residence brand. The complex
is highly visible from the Lisbon ring
road (2nd Circular), and a façade system
was devised to incorporate a public art
project based on a system of bas-relief
precast concrete panels. In collaboration
with promontorio, the artist Gabriela
Albergaria (b. 1965) created a landscape
panorama to provide a stark contrast
with the harshness of the surroundings.
The artificial representation of nature
in photographic imprints is overtly
emphasized by the colour of the buildings
themselves, which will be green,
blue and beige.
• Decorative motifs by Gabriela Albergaria
Parque NorteSul Hotel & Residences
Location Benfica (Lisbon ring road),
Portugal
Operator Groupe Accor
Property Accor/ Chamartín, sa
Programme Ibis and Etap units,
plus studios.
(plus 12,000 sq.m underground)
Project 2001
(opening estimated for 2011)
242
View from ring road (2nd circular) / Tomás da Fonseca street
View from Tomás da Fonseca street
View from interior street
243
Ville Blanche
A bond between the Alentejo’s
whitewash tradition and
contemporary simplicity
244
promontorio was invited to design the
concept and master plan for an estate of
second homes. Located a short distance
from the historic centre of Alcácer do
Sal, on the former main road connecting
Lisbon to the Algarve, the plot was the
last remaining part of a site formerly
owned by the agro-business company
known as Quinta do Pinhal. The ruins
which remain there are reminders of
the site’s agricultural past (olive oil
and orange groves), and the water well
drilling and bottling operations are still
evident in the array of tanks, wells and
water towers spread across the property.
In addition to the renovation of the
ruined buildings, the two-storey villa
of the former landowner, built in the
typical naïve vernacular style of the
1920s, has been kept as a memory of
the place’s history. The layout of the
estate was planned with the intention
of preserving as many trees as possible,
most of which were olive groves planted
on an orthogonal matrix to improve
agricultural production.
The streets are laid out in light grey
granite cobblestones, which allow
rainwater to percolate through, blend
with the local landscape and reduce the
gradient impact of the plots. In order to
guarantee the coherence of the overall
design, both the developer and the
individual plot owners are obliged to
comply fully with the regulations for
the design and building of the projected
4-bdr and 5-bdr villas.
• 4−bdr villa
245
• Model 5-bdr villa
• • 5-bdr villa
• Model 5-bdr villa
• Model 2-bdr villa • Model 4-bdr villa
246
• 2-bdr villa • 4-bdr villa
With large open plan areas and a
straightforward programme, these
villas aim to establish a bond between
the Alentejo’s traditional whitewashed
architecture and contemporary ideas of
simplicity and synthesis in design. The
contrasting shades produced by the intense
light of the region reinforce the tension
coming from the atectonic geometry of the
cantilevered volumes with their perplexing
and unusual lengths.
Pinhal de Alcacer
Developer Almeida & Gil, sa
Programme Estate of 130 villas
Plot size 9 ha
Project 2004
247
• View of the basin and shower area
It’s the
economy,
stupid!
Price meets style
meets functionality
248
249
In partnership with Neoturis (cbre)
hospitality consultants promontorio
developed the concept for an innovative
budget hotel to be developed in the Iberian
market by Societé Du Louvre, Europe’s second
largest hotel network, in association with
Espírito Santo Tourism. The project was later
stopped when the group was acquired by the
Starwood Capital Group, Barry Sternlicht’s
hospitality holding company.
• View from above
250
The briefing called for a contemporary
approach to hotel design and management
that could parallel the mass customization of
comprehensive brands such as Smart, Swatch,
Ikea or Zara. Directly competing against the
long term market leader Groupe Accor, it aimed
to take advantage of the eroded and declining
image of budget hotels by infusing them with a
design oriented and classless approach and by
customizing them in three different dimensions
simultaneously: price, style and functionality.
Budget Hotel
Location Multiple
(Portugal and Spain)
Developer Societé Du Louvre
(Groupe Taittinger)
Brands Première Classe
and Campanile
Research Neoturis/ cb Richard Ellis
Programme Budget hotel concept
Project 2005-2006
• View of the window
251
• Masterplan
The future
252
Lusail City has been master-planned to
become Qatar’s newest metropolis, extending
over 35 sq. km. It is being developed by
the state owned Qatari Diar Real Estate
Investment Company and the aim is to
provide accommodation for up to 200,000
people in the near future.
Located in Umm Salal, near West Bay
Lagoon, and some 15 km north of Doha’s
city centre, this vast development will
include two marinas, residential areas,
island resorts, commercial districts,
shopping and leisure facilities, in addition
to two golf courses and an entertainment
district. promontorio has been invited
by the maf Group to submit a proposal for
The Downtown at Entertainment City;
an inland shopping centre resort that will
be one of the key macro-plots of Lusail.
The programme comprises two hotels,
offices and 1,000 apartment units, all of
which are anchored by a large shopping mall.
is now
Qatar’s largest destination resort
• Axonometric of the ensemble
253
Drawing on a planned seawater canal
that criss-crosses the plot, the proposed
scheme is structured around three water
plazas that result from the widening of this
waterway at specific locations. Positioned at
each end of the plot, with dense vegetation
and strong shading, these plazas emphasize
the presence of water through the use of
large amphitheatres that offer a fresh and
welcoming space both for the hotels (the
5-star business and the 4-star family), the
• Family hotel & apartments
254
serviced apartments and the corresponding
housing segments (luxury and mid-range).
In addition, cars can come right to the main
entrances of the hotels deep within the water
plazas, and guests get a unique and powerful
arrival experience.
The shopping centre, with its delta
footprint and a triangular loop circuit,
is highly effective and very clear from a
commercial point of view. The two distinct
areas generated by this layout; the high-
end and the main mall, also have separate
entrances. In addition the high-end mall
is directly connected to both hotel lobbies
maximizing the mixed-use potential of the
programme. The third water plaza is located
at the heart of the shopping centre and is
positioned as an exterior f&b and all-day
dining destination for the whole resort. The
45-storey office tower is located on the most
visible spot of the whole scheme and shares an
iconic entrance with the main mall.
Qatar Downtown Shopping Resort
Location Doha (Lusail City), Qatar
Developer maf - Majid Al Futtaim Group
Programme Shopping centre resort
comprising a 5-star hotel conference
centre & destination Spa, a 4-star family
hotel, extended-stay and serviced
apartments, shopping & entertainment
centre and apartment units.
Plot size 18 ha
Project Short-listed competition
in 2009 - (to open in 2012)
• Luxury hotel & apartments
255
© yoh
afterword
Second
Chances
And tell me this: I must be absolutely
sure. This place I’ve reached, is it
truly Ithaca?
Few unspoiled natural beaches remain
in the south of Europe or on the north
side of the Mediterranean. Over the
past two decades, the accumulated
growth of 550% in the beach tourism
segment alone has led to a traumatic
transformation of the landscape in
regions of Spain, like Andalusia, Valencia
and Catalonia, or in the Portuguese
Algarve. Speculation, coupled with
poor design and the lack of planning or
sustainability, has left many of the warm
beaches of Iberia in less than good shape.
We would like to believe that given a
second chance to do everything again,
things would be different and better.
Such an opportunity comes once
in a blue moon, but south of Lisbon,
the Tróia-Alcácer-Grândola Atlantic
oceanfront may well be the last 70 Km
of immaculate white-sand beaches in
southern Europe to receive a tourism
cluster of national magnitude. It is
clearly not a great time to launch a new
destination, in a world still struggling
with an unprecedented mortgage crisis.
Moreover, competing with consolidated
locations, which are slashing prices as
we speak, new destinations will have
to pay their entry ticket with extra
marketing effort. And yet, if the gentle
256
climate and the stunning wilderness of
the region were not enough, the quality
of infrastructure and the 40km-drive
from the upcoming new Lisbon airport,
are bound to make this destination
second to none in Iberia.
Some projects are already under
construction, but most are in the final
stages of approval, and by the end
there will be nearly 26,000 beds along
the coast and 15,000 in the Alcácer
hinterland, with a total of 13 resorts and
9 new 18-hole golf courses designed by
the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent
Jones Jr, McLay Kidd, Cabell Robinson
and Donald Steel.
In addition, management contracts
are being signed with prestigious hotel
brands such as Amanresorts, Fairmont,
Park Hyatt and Six Senses. At the risk of
sounding politically incorrect, we would
argue that these figures are reasonable
provided two conditions are met: (A) If
the development is properly monitored
and phased over the next two decades,
and (B), if there is a real and active
concern for tourism sustainability.
And here, we go back to that new
opportunity for doing things right.
Sustainable tourism, a bit like
the Hippocratic oath, means “First,
Homer, The Odyssey
do no harm.” It is the foundation for
destination stewardship. It anticipates
environmental impacts, preserving
habitats, heritage sites, scenic appeal
and local culture. It safeguards resources
and effectively reduces pollution, energy
consumption, waste, water usage,
landscaping chemicals and excessive
nighttime lighting. It respects local
culture and tradition. It aims for quality,
measuring success by length of stay,
rather than by number of visitors.
It involves the community, its civic
groups and local businesses. Last, but
not least, in what is perhaps the most
relevant aspect for promontorio,
it values architectural integrity from
a long term point of view.
The Tróia-Alcácer-Grândola region
has the potential to become a unique
eco-conscious destination and, to
conclude on a positive note, we sincerely
believe that this “second chance”
region will not forfeit the opportunity
of becoming an unparalleled example
of unity between natural landscape and
human presence.
[email protected]
Ana Germano
[email protected]
Ana Gonçalves
[email protected]
Anthony Thevenon
[email protected]
António Braga
[email protected]
Antonio Branco
[email protected]
Bruno Cardoso
[email protected]
Carmo Pupo
[email protected]
Catarina Castro
[email protected]
Catarina Norton
[email protected]
Catarina Sousa
[email protected]
Claudia Silva
[email protected]
Dario Graça
[email protected]
David Alcobia
[email protected]
Duarte Pape
[email protected]
Filipa Vitória
[email protected]
Francisco Rugerroni
[email protected]
Helena Lourenço
[email protected]
Joana Cancela
[email protected]
Joana Wanderley
[email protected]
João Lúcio
[email protected]
João Luis Ferreira
[email protected]
João Perloiro
[email protected]
Luis Teixeira
[email protected]
Magda Velez
[email protected]
Manuel Simões
[email protected]
Marta Fonseca
[email protected]
Marta Nunes
[email protected]
Nelson Paciência
[email protected]
Nuno Rodrigues
[email protected]
Nuno Silva
[email protected]
[email protected]
Paulo Pereira
[email protected]
Paulo Perloiro
[email protected]
Pedro Appleton
[email protected]
Pedro Botelho
[email protected]
Pedro GrandAo
[email protected]
Pedro Torres
[email protected]
Pedro Vieira
[email protected]
Rita Conde
[email protected]
Rita Dinis
[email protected]
Rita Henriques
[email protected]
Sara Carvalho
[email protected]
Sofia Araujo
[email protected]
Sofia Reis
[email protected]
Sónia Costa
[email protected]
Tiago Baldaque
tbspromontorio.net
Tiago Ferreira
[email protected]
Vera Caseiro
[email protected]
Yolanda Candeias
[email protected]
CHRISTIAN ANDERSSON
JOHN BALDESSARI
MICHAEL BIBERSTEIN
ANGELA BULLOCH
FILIPA CÉSAR
LUIS PAULO COSTA
TATJANA DOLL
JOÃO PAULO FELICIANO
SABINE HORNIG
JOSÉ LOUREIRO
JOÃO LOURO
DANIEL MALHÃO
MATT MULLICAN
JOÃO ONOFRE
ROSÂNGELA RENNÓ
JULIÃO SARMENTO
NOÉ SENDAS
RUI TOSCANO
LAWRENCE WEINER
ERWIN WURM
YONAMINE
Rua de St.o António à Estrela 33 I 1350-291 Lisboa I Portugal T + (351) 213 959 559 F + (351) 213 959 567 E [email protected] URL www.cristinaguerra.com
knoll.com
Product photography by Ilan Rubin
© 2009 Knoll, Inc.
nord
av. infante d. henrique
armzém b loja 6
tel. +351 21 882 10 45
fax +351 21 715 65 45
[email protected]

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