HOTEL MINHO by Vírgula i

The extension was designed to maintain the existing building’s architecture, despite its plain and common design, introducing a more effective image to the hotel. These volumes host the new hotel programs, such us the business areas, the spa treatment rooms, among others, all with very simple, plain, geometric and cladded in local chestnut wood, resulting in strong interiors, full of character, with the right tone of light and warmth. The rest is up to the furniture and all the remaining decorative items. International names as Arne Jacobsen, Alvar Aalto and local giants as Arménio Losa, Januário Godinho and Álvaro Siza, have strong direct and indirect influence in the work and some of them with furniture items introduced in the Hotel Minho project. Materials and products:
The wood used in all Hotel Minho construction items – interior and exterior cladding, ceilings, furniture, sign system – is Iberian chestnut wood, a common one in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. The solution intended to be very simple and in some spaces, highly introverted, retaining the existing structures and introducing the new areas in the floors below the main entrance. The furniture developed to the project have now evolved to a new collection called Bracara, developed between our studio and Portuguese brand Paularte   and will be release in the beginning of 2015 into the international market, with new items reflecting over the same concepts. The interior design:
Hotel Minho architecture project determined the interior design as a strong part of the global architecture strategy. The materials, the furniture, the balance between finishes, the relation between the architectonic solutions and the mood tone of the interior design, were completely redefined by creating new ambiances for the hotel. In fact, to achieve this, several items of furniture, lighting, upholstery and spa treatment features were developed by the studio in order to achieve the right visual impact that was demanded by this overall aesthetic. Among these, white Carrara marble was used both in walls and flooring, as well in some special items such as suspended lamps, counters and washbasins. Its frequent the links established between modernistic details from the mid XX century to certain aspects of the architecture carpentry or furniture mercenary. The wood volumes introduced in the several floors of the hotel, commonly going from the inside to the outside, link these two areas of the hotel and its surrounding. The project invested in having the right balance between this main material and the other ones, always neutral and based on a white palette. The project rejected the trendy, the fashionable or the “hotel design” tendency. White walls, white lacquered panels, glass and mirrors were frequently used to accentuate the neutral element facing wood. On this matter, besides the numerous items developed by the studio (more than 20 products, repeated to a total of 131 pieces), the project used many vintage items collected from local stores, remanufactured important furniture design items left behind such as the Pousada easy chair (1951) by Januário Godinho, and used many contemporary and modern products in accordance with the same principles: warm, elegant and efficient design. The wood boxes are the new element of organization of the hotel, creating the mood and the tone for the interior and exterior design, stating a strong continuity between every single floor. The project was developed to the smallest detail, integrating interior and exterior space, using efficiently the natural light, the visual philter of the inner patios and the design of several decoration items that might range from furniture, lighting or even the hotel sign system.