Foz Côa – Former Casa dos Almeida to Become 4-Star Rural Hotel

24 January 2018

The municipality of Vila Nova de Foz Côa will rehabilitate the historic Casa dos Almeidas, turning the property into a 4-star Rural Hotel and Cultural Center. The investment is expected to reach €2 million and the development, according to the municipality’s mayor, is part of a “strategy of urban regeneration and the rehabilitation of public spaces and facilities, intending to attract more activity to the old part of the city and specifically to its historic centre.”

Out of 22 proposals, the project that won the ideas and architecture competition held by CMVNFC at the end of 2016 was submitted by the ADVD atelier – architecture, design and engineering, from Moimenta da Beira. The future hotel will be called “Foz Côa Story House”.

Foz Côa: the Meeting Point for two World Heritage Sites

In its final statement, the jury, made up of architects from the Vila Nova de Foz Côa town council and other neighbouring municipalities, stated: “The Jury here expresses its desire that the project should value the region’s heritage in an area where exist two World Heritage Sites – the Alto Douro Vinhateiro and the prehistoric Côa Valley Rock Art, which is why it wanted to expand the range of different approaches and understandings in this intervention so that the most appropriate architectural and sustainable option could be chosen.”

The winning proposal reconciles the old with “new programmatic and formal vision, including new textures, volumes and materials that relate to each other and conduct a mutually respectful dialogue. It proposes to maintain the principal building, with its characteristic windows and grills, and its defining chimneys.

Given the advanced state of degradation of the old property, a new support structure must be installed.

The rural hotel will have a capacity for 20 beds spread over 10 accommodation units and will have a foyer – the entrance for visitors, which is directly related to exhibition and event spaces; spaces for the exhibition and sale of regional products, wine and food tasting rooms, a restaurant with the capacity for 48 people and an outdoor terrace.

“The building will have thematic areas which will relate the history of wine, almond, olive oil and shale production, interactive features, a wine bar, among other amenities,” Gustavo Duarte, mayor of the municipality of Vila Nova de Foz Côa, stated. The gross building area will cover 1,799 square meters, with implantation area spread over 719 square meters. According to the mayor, the construction will be ready in two years and will be co-financed by European funds.

Original Story: Diário Imobiliário

Translation: Richard Turner