Hotel and Apartments 24 Julho

Lisbon, Portugal

2017

This narrow plot is located at the heart of Lisbon’s riverfront, in the former Boavista industrial quarter; a 19th-century land infill which is one of the city’s most sought touristic destinations, given its proximity to the Baixa historical centre and the Tejo riverfront, while neighbouring Chiado and Santa Catarina hill. Meanwhile, and following a worldwide trend, the industrial character of this quarter has been gentrified into becoming the aphoristically called “Santos Design District”.

The plot is situated between the prominent Avenida 24 de Julho, Rua Dom Luís i and a pedestrian alleyway and the brief consists of a 4-star boutique hotel and freehold apartments. Even though the city plan (Plano de Pormenor) allows splitting the brief into separate buildings, the design strategy was to consider the ensemble as a single entity, consisting of two buildings united by material finishes and floor levels, whilst subtly different in form. With a small courtyard abutting West against the perimeter city block, the u-shaped ensemble has 8 floors with the apartment building facing the riverfront and the hotel’s entrance towards Rua Dom Luis I, both sharing a common 2-storey parking basement.

Other than reception and lobby, the hotel ground floor combines multiple uses, including meeting rooms, plug-in lounge area and a bar that makes use of the courtyard as a winter garden. Floors 2nd to 8th all have double and single guestrooms, but the 7th-floor includes a restaurant with a terrace on the northeast corner overlooking Santa Catarina hill, while 8th-floor includes a Spa and Gym with direct access to a rooftop panoramic pool terrace.

The adjoining apartment building has retail on the ground floor facing the busy avenue. Above, its duplex units draw from the post-industrial spirit of the so-called “lofts” with open plan kitchens in some of the units in view of the increasing demand for more casual layouts.  Living rooms have generous double-height balconies and face towards the riverfront views, while the bedrooms above share a part of this panorama.

In terms of facade composition, and given the narrowness of the Boqueirão dos Ferreiros alleyway, a sequence of two setback floors yields a more welcoming and lit public space. In addition, the transition from apartments to hotel is expressed by a protruding zigzagging facade devise that allows each guestroom to have riverfront views. The edge of the slab in exposed concrete, creates a continuous structure line around the whole perimeter, while the solid brick columns divide the window modules of both hotel and apartments. Both materials – concrete and brick – require little maintenance and convey a feeling of urbanity and warmth, giving testimony to the possibility of a smooth and non-intrusive architectural presence, – an architecture of tolerance, as it were.

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Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Client: Fundo Sete Colinas
Scope of Services: Architecture and interior design
Project Brief: Mixed-use boutique hotel (100 Keys), apartments (16 units) and ground floor retail
Plot Size: 1,810 sq. m
Gross Built Area: 9,480 sq. m (above ground) and 3,150 sq. m (underground parking)
Parking: 78 cars
Project Status: 2017 (design competition, 1st-prize)