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Porto Palácio Congress Hotel & Spa shakes off a staid image by playing new angles in layout and design.
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The five-star Porto Palácio Congress Hotel & Spa in Portugal celebrated the new millennium with a renovation intent on erasing the last vestiges of its 1970s roots. Less than eight years later, Plajer & Franz Studio had to work step by step to convince the hotel's owner, Sonae Capital, that the redo needed to be redone. A multidisciplinary design firm, Berlin-based Plajer & Franz Studio spelled out what wasn't working: "Rather random" curves and ellipticals made the public areas cold, interchangeable and not all that different from a host of other hotels, says Alexander Plajer, co-founder of the firm with Werner Franz. "Invented curves made this just another hotel and missed the local touch. A property like this could have been anywhere on the planet," he says.
The designers proposed a new image that would warm up the ambiance and separate the mood of the hotel from the energy of the congress halls (Europe's accepted term for conference space). What the team had in mind was a design scheme that recalled luxurious men's stores, where customers are greeted by a doorman and pampered by staff members while they shop, or the exclusive cache of clubby smoking rooms filled with overstuffed chairs and rich woods. To get this retro feel without resorting to a retro look, Plajer & Franz Studio borrowed the timeless essence of geometric design.
The design firm was after authentic elegance, "with a touch of Gucci," that still also referred to its Porto setting, Plajer says. Sonae Capital got the message and commissioned Plajer & Franz Studio to redesign the lobby and top two executive floors. In fact, the owner gave the design team "a green light on everything we proposed," says Plajer.
OPEN SPACES
Constrained by the '70s architecture, Plajer & Franz Studio couldn't make radical structural changes in the lobby. So the team introduced rectangular design elements to give clearer definition to the entry, reception and lounge area. The designers inserted rectangular carpet inlays that are softer and thicker than the surrounding carpet to delineate seating areas and meeting points. They intensified the effect by mirroring the pattern with light coves in the ceiling-features that do double-duty, since they mask the air conditioning grills.
Texture and detail prevent the look from becoming sterile. Modern chandeliers in the lobby send light glittering through thousands of Swarovski crystals. The parade of display cases becomes a framework for showcasing some of the antiques of Sonae's owners, the Azevedo family, collected from all over the world.
Returning the space to its original proportions by uncovering two large lobby windows helped to alleviate what Plajer refers to as the "granite cave-like design." Because of that balance, the lobby looks bigger and brighter, even though it actually lost some space with the new layout. Bronzed mirrors hide the massive columns and therefore camouflage their size in an elegant way. Silky, shimmery wall coverings add luster and a sensual touch (an effect the designers carry over into the executive suites' headboards and seating).
THE SOFT SIDE OF GEOMETRICS
The designers take the same angular profile and a warm gray, brown and red color scheme into the executive suites-and the result is more intimate. "It's difficult to combine elements such as velvet, leather and wallpaper in an elegant way. But it's worth it. This kind of mix delivers the sensual visual cues that make the guests feel at home," says Plajer.
Few elements do more to update a guest room than photos, and this is one trend Plajer & Franz Studio did embrace. The design team chose images that show old scenes of Porto's architecture, bridges and boats, then put a new spin on them. "We used black-and-white photos with a slight sepia tone, and had them printed on glass or a mirror. The goal was to expose the spirit of the city and the hotel without looking kitschy," says Plajer. Back-lighted photos not only accent the design; they also complement the room's sleek lamps and indirect lighting.
In their goal to reflect the local culture, designers based the overall style on their impression of Porto's residents. "Porto is not only a beautiful city with a long history, it is a city where people have this subtle elegance," says Plajer. "You have to be born with it; you can't learn it." But you can take the best of it and transform a 1970s monolith into a style-setting modern congress hotel.
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