​
House and Hotel in Atalaia, Alenquer
​
The design project for this rural hotel is based on a comprehensive reading of the walled garden structures of the South and the Mediterranean, seeking to inscribe them in the logic of the country estates and agricultural precincts that punctuate the territory of Estremadura and the inland West region. The ensemble is established from the garden-paradise archetype, almost entirely on the ground floor, which is closed inside a long patio, sheltering the necessary spaces for its functioning and management in the thickness of the walls that define it. This long and low building is also marked by the elevated and overhanging volume that integrates the main house, the owners' household that dominates the landscape.
On a gently sloped terrain, the entrance is at the highest level, by the road that gives it access. In the thickness of the walls to the north, the murmur of water from a fountain leads us to the patio, set at an intermediate level. The model of the elongated patio allows the hotel's recreational areas to be closed inside, protected from the wind that often blows strong in this place. The patio is paved at its limits and lowered in the centre, forming a large bed, occupied by underbrush and leafy vegetation, some cactus and a set of palm trees - which will increasingly provide shade. The promise of freshness announced at the entrance is fulfilled at the opposite end, with a water tank.
The access system segregates the movements associated with services and parking related to the stay at the house or hotel. The remaining area of the property, dedicated to the vineyard plantation, the fundamental reason for the establishment in this land, is left untouched, being only interrupted to the west of the built complex, where an orchard is expected to be planted to serve the needs of the house and the tourist unit. The remainder shall be made available on the local trade circuit.
The program includes management and maintenance services for the complex and a kitchen and dining space, lowered from the patio, which looks out not only onto the garden, but also to the vineyards to the south, on a terrace shaded by vines. The south wing is significantly wider as it is generated from the bedroom module – the set consisting of a vestibule, bedroom, bathroom and balcony – which, starting from the house, is repeated in the hotel. An atrium separates the bedroom wing, the library and the high floor of the house, which is accessed through a staircase, which includes a living room, smaller room, bathroom and kitchen, in addition to a terrace with a tank that looks over the west valley and is protected from the promiscuity of the hotel's common areas.
The pigment of the clayed soils in this place and the red colour of the vines when autumn comes set the atmosphere of the complex, which is built as one whole matter – an organic architecture with deep roots, similar to the garden kept here as secret.
​
architecture
Pedro Matos Gameiro
design team
Mariana Bacelar, Raquel Batista Pereira, João Carlos Lopes, Madalena Figueiroa, Maria Marçal Gameiro
structural engineer
João Paulo Cardoso
HVAC air treatment and thermal conditioning
Rui Batista
electrical engineering and fireproof concept
Luis Mira
hidraulics and acoustic
Augusto Macedo
landscape architecture
Ricardo Correia, GHAL
project year
2018 - ...
​
rendering matos gameiro arquitectos
​