Architects: PLAN Associated Architects Location: Meia Praia, Lagos, Algarve, Portugal Project: Yellow Hotel Meia Praia – 5 star hotel Building Area: 22 298,28 sqm Design Team: Armando Daniel Dos Reis (Principal Architect), Jenny da Costa Marcos, Ricardo Galego Silva, Quirio Ramalhinho, Liliana de Sousa, Luis Caetano, Hugo Fonseca, Joana Fernandes, Inês Martins, José Martins, Ana Paula Costa, Filipa Monteiro, Matias dos Reis Client: Iberotel Group Project Year: 2010 Photographs: Alexandre da Luz Mendes, Ricardo Cabeços, Hugo Fonseca
The recent development of the Yellow Hotel Meia Praia in Lagos, Algarve, Portugal is PLAN Associated Architects third project for the Iberotel Group.
Always open to challenges, we took on a beautifully located site set in front of the sand dunes of Meia Praia Beach with a quite complex topography, where the client’s dream was to build a five star hotel overlooking the magnificent sea views.
The big challenge was to maximize construction area, complying with the multitude of legal planning restrictions defined for this particular area where the maximum building height allowed no more than three storeys plus basement, without compromising important aspects of the building such as aesthetics, functionality and sustainability, among others.
The balance between each of these points and the aim for innovation resulted in a solution comprised of a main horseshoe shape or “U” shape distribution, molded according to the natural topography, where a large central courtyard opens on to the sea and every single bedroom and suite benefits also of these views.
With a contemporary architectural language, combining simple lines and shapes and materials such as wood, rendering and glass panels on each terrace which incorporate RGB lighting, colour, contrast and light are a key factor in this project. From dusk to dawn the colours of the panels shine to create different moods and reactions, transforming the hotel in to a landmark which can be easily identified from miles away.
The plot size is 41.130 sqm and the construction area of over 20.000 sqm includes 209 bedrooms and 11 suites, a large lobby, two restaurants, two bars and sitting areas, a multipurpose space for events, indoor swimming pool and facilities, and two separate exterior swimming pools in different ambiences, one in the central courtyard visible from all the public areas of the hotel and many of the bedrooms and another at the lowest level of the land, surrounded by the carefully treated gardens which characterize the property throughout, with a more organic shape, diverging from the lines which constitute the actual building design and the upper swimming pool
