Black Tower of Light / Cremascoli + Okumura + Rodrigues

Jun 2010

By Karen Cilento — Filed under: Hotels and Restaurants ,News , Black Tower of Light, Cremascoli + Okumura + Rodrigues, Portugal

Thanks to our friends from Abitare who shared Cremascoli + Okumura + Rodrigues‘ latest hotel refursbishment in Porto, Portugal with us. The Grande Porto, which dates back to the 1880s, recently received a new slate “tower” that is both a simple and compact solution to adding a gym and small bar to the hotel. The geometric form includes a skylight and a long horizontal window, offering a panoramic glimpse of the skyline. Although we may sometimes be partial to additions that blend with the existing, this project strongly creates its own identity, as it is an “estranged element.” It does attempt to fool the observer as an original part of the hotel, but rather embraces its place in this contemporary era to add a new architectural statement to the traditional.
Check out more photographs by Rita Burmester after the break.