CASA DO CONTO HOTEL
CASA DO CONTO HOTEL
Casa do Conto (House of Tales) was born three years ago,
giving rise to a unique project within the Oporto's growing hotel industry.
Unfortunately a fatal fire in March 2009 interrupted this process but not the
collective will to complete the project. And many
were those who generously honored and supported it.
The House rises now fully rehabilitated, once again seeking
its exclusivity within the usual Oporto’s hotel offer, which is becoming
gradually generic and impersonal.
Casa do Conto embodies a unique story of life, which is,
after all, the history of the city itself. The House highlights Oporto’s XIX
century domestic architecture, solemn and vertical, carved by the scars of a
time that mediates its decline and rebirth, the memory of the past and the
desire for the future, the granite stone of the old facades and the new
concrete of staircases and ceilings. It is, indeed, a kind of "fossil
architecture" that comes to life.
Casa do Conto offers an innovative hotel concept - arts
& residence - providing a personalized style of residence for guests who
wish to combine resting with the enjoyment of Oporto’s cultural offer, or for
those who wish to create, display or even debate art working. For this reason,
Casa do Conto offers a regular schedule of cultural events, involving different
artists, designers, curators, groups and art institutions. For the opening
period, Casa do Conto established partnership with the art gallery and bookshop
Inc. based in Oporto.
FOSSILIZED ARCHITECTURE
Pedra Liquida
In 2008, our office Pedra Líquida (Liquid Stone) was
commissioned to create a new Hotel design concept – Casa do Conto, arts&residence
- giving life to a beautiful XIX Century Oporto House, through a chirurgical
restoration process.
Unfortunately, on March 2009, few days before the hotel opening, the building suffered a terrible fire.
As architects and concept creators we decided that we had to rebuild it, better than before. In fact, recreating its remaining structure was an opportunity to make this new hotel, and the memory of that special house, reborn from the ashes, like the Phoenix.
In this sense, the new project evokes, through an abstract approach, the old house adornment and its wall textures by using traditional surfaces – crossed wood patterns, corrugated steel plates and curved plywood panels – as a “mould” for the new concrete walls: at the central staircase; at the back facade; at the cubic bathrooms inside every suite; at the oval-shaped central skylight, a typical Oporto typology. As a result we get a kind of “fossilized architecture” where those modern “skins” rephrase the pre-existing ones.
All the concrete ceilings are (re)decorated by carved texts, in bass-relief, where you can read different narratives about the concept of "house" and of that house in particular. Created by different authors related to Oporto and its architecture, those six tails were spatially layered by our office, and graphically imagined by R2 Designers.
Casa do Conto embodies a unique story of life, which is, in fact, the history of the city itself. The hotel highlights Oporto’s domestic architecture, solemn and vertical, carved by the scars of a time that mediates its decline and rebirth, the memory of the past and the desire for the future, the granite stone of the old facades and the new concrete of its inner core.
Unfortunately, on March 2009, few days before the hotel opening, the building suffered a terrible fire.
As architects and concept creators we decided that we had to rebuild it, better than before. In fact, recreating its remaining structure was an opportunity to make this new hotel, and the memory of that special house, reborn from the ashes, like the Phoenix.
In this sense, the new project evokes, through an abstract approach, the old house adornment and its wall textures by using traditional surfaces – crossed wood patterns, corrugated steel plates and curved plywood panels – as a “mould” for the new concrete walls: at the central staircase; at the back facade; at the cubic bathrooms inside every suite; at the oval-shaped central skylight, a typical Oporto typology. As a result we get a kind of “fossilized architecture” where those modern “skins” rephrase the pre-existing ones.
All the concrete ceilings are (re)decorated by carved texts, in bass-relief, where you can read different narratives about the concept of "house" and of that house in particular. Created by different authors related to Oporto and its architecture, those six tails were spatially layered by our office, and graphically imagined by R2 Designers.
Casa do Conto embodies a unique story of life, which is, in fact, the history of the city itself. The hotel highlights Oporto’s domestic architecture, solemn and vertical, carved by the scars of a time that mediates its decline and rebirth, the memory of the past and the desire for the future, the granite stone of the old facades and the new concrete of its inner core.
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PEDRA LIQUIDA
Pedra Líquida (Liquid Stone) was created in 2006 by
Alexandra Grande, Daniela Coutinho and Nuno Grande, and it is based at Oporto
City Centre. Its main activity relates architectural design, engineering and
building management.
Pedra Líquida aims to live and work for the city cultural consolidation, involving markedly the rehabilitation of urban buildings. Its main projects are related to house renovation (single and collective), new and creative residential and hotel concepts, exhibition design and curatorship.
Pedra Líquida was among the finalist offices of the 2008 FAD Prize, Barcelona, with the installation titled "VIP, Very Irregular Polyhydric Room", at Casa da Música, Oporto; the office was also awarded with the 2nd Prize at the International Competition for the Renovation of the Tram Museum in Oporto. In 2012, Casa do Conto won the first prize at the "Renovation" category of the International Design Awards 2011, Los Angeles and, for the same category, at the Construir 2012 prizes. It was also awarded with an honourable mention both for the 2012 João de Almada prize and for the III Bienal Ibero-americana de Design, and select for the Respect For Architecture Porto 2012 exhibition.
Pedra Líquida aims to live and work for the city cultural consolidation, involving markedly the rehabilitation of urban buildings. Its main projects are related to house renovation (single and collective), new and creative residential and hotel concepts, exhibition design and curatorship.
Pedra Líquida was among the finalist offices of the 2008 FAD Prize, Barcelona, with the installation titled "VIP, Very Irregular Polyhydric Room", at Casa da Música, Oporto; the office was also awarded with the 2nd Prize at the International Competition for the Renovation of the Tram Museum in Oporto. In 2012, Casa do Conto won the first prize at the "Renovation" category of the International Design Awards 2011, Los Angeles and, for the same category, at the Construir 2012 prizes. It was also awarded with an honourable mention both for the 2012 João de Almada prize and for the III Bienal Ibero-americana de Design, and select for the Respect For Architecture Porto 2012 exhibition.
