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Architects: Carvalho Araújo
- Year: 2012
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Photographs:Hugo Carvalho Araújo
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Manufacturers: panoramah!®
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Landscape: JBJC Arquitetura Paisagista Lda, João Bicho, Joana Carneiro
Text description provided by the architects. I Answering the request for the conception and design for a Gourmet Restaurant, we developed the project with the idea of a Guesthouse, private equipment as complement of the first. The group intends to relate to the wine production, and to frame this investment in a global brand strategy, instead of an isolated act in the territory.
The Guesthouse doesn't have a formal reception; the services create an intimate atmosphere, family like and exclusive. The bedroom is not just the private domain; it includes other spaces of social character, which makes this equipment different from the usual offer of temporary lodging. The bedroom is really a small house. The association established with the wine production justifies the restaurant. It includes spaces for wine proofs, and a reserved area to discussion, analysis and wine critic, suggesting a flexible drawing for the space in all these uses. The building’s drawing is developed starting from the topography, based in contour lines, as a reference to the platforms and the distant association that unites them in time, characteristic of wine’s production especially in the Douro and Dão region.
It defines an extensive course that represents the dimension of the territory on which is placed and is built in a level quota, being the direct result of the topography. The building is drawn by the land, and its openings, orientations and intern definition of the program respect the main points of view over the vineyard, natural light’s control and the discretion that is intended for the group, in spite of its apparent dimension.
The attractive point where the building is located creates a tension between the existent building and the new construction, being constituted as two poles, forcing the accomplishment of a course to relate them. The implantation of the new construction is just the continuity of that course; a drawing in the landscape, a built course leaning towards the beauty of the linear rhythm of the vineyards.
