Hotel in Coimbra by depa architects

Photographer: José Campos

The three pre-existing buildings around a mediterranean courtyard are located Coimbra, in the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Protection Zone.

In such delicate surroundings, the intervention seeks a delicate design balanced between the need for technical adaptations to contemporary building demands, the legal requirements for a contemporary hotel and the huge care that an intervention of this type requires. In other words, the adaption to the new program and the consequent deep intervention by all means paid deep respect for the historical relevance of the buildings and its great architectural and constructive values.

This balanced strategy allowed, at the same time, to clarify the difference between the preserved old elements and all the new and, above all, the difference between the three buildings: the former house on the upper level, the small palace on the lower level, and the third in-between, which is more picturesque. The courtyard which aggregates the three buildings is open to the public and is the life heart of the new hotel.

The use of traditional materials such as stone, wood and iron, not only for for structural purposes but also for final details and finishings made, at the end, the whole intervention coherent and avoids a disruptive atmosphere or design.

Design Team:

depA Architects: Carlos Azevedo, João Crisóstomo, Luís Sobral, Miguel Santos, Sara Pontes and Margarida Leitão
Engeneering: CPX, Ncrep, Mse
Consultants: Financertus

Photographer: José Campos