THE FIRST 100% ACCESSIBLE HOTEL IN THE COUNTRY
The first hotel 100% accessible to people with reduced mobility in the country is an ad quadratum architects project. The hotel, belonging to the Pinto da Costa & Carriço Group, will be born in the place where today are the ruins of the “Grande Hotel do Pezo”, in Melgaço, built in the second half of the century. XIX. The recovery of the Hotel, adjacent to the Park and Thermal Complex of Termas de Melgaço, should be completed within two years, and represents an investment in the order of 2.5 million euros.
The rehabilitation project covers an area of approximately 11,900 m2 and an estimated construction area of 4,500 m2 and 1,800 m2 of rehabilitation of existing structures. Developed under the concept of Hotel-Boutique, it will be a 4-star hotel unit, with about 44 rooms. “An accommodation with differentiating characteristics, in a philosophy of environmental sustainability”, says José António Lopes.
Accessibility will be one of the differentiating elements of the hotel, stresses the architect, recalling that this is a concern of the office and to which he has been warning, due to the lack of awareness of society on this issue. “The increasing urbanization of our territories has not consequently resulted in its greater urbanity. Urbanity is understood here not as a matter of quantity of built infrastructure, buildings and streets, but as the quality of the interaction of urban life with the physical environment ”, he explains.
“It is necessary to bring about a real cultural change in the way accessibility issues are understood and demanded, placing them as a central theme of equity and democracy”, adds José António Lopes.
A complex built today in ruins
Considering an area of the property of approximately 11,900 m2 and a construction area estimated at 4,500 m2 of extension and 1,800 m2 of rehabilitation of existing structures, the process foresees the structuring of a hotel unit under the concept of Hotel-Boutique, oriented towards the classification 4-star hotel, which is essentially based on the reconstruction of the existing building complex (now considered to be in ruins) and now geared towards welcoming reception, reception and other social functions, and further expanding with new construction, it is essentially welcoming the units of accommodation, arranged along several wings of rooms (44 units).
The entire intervention is oriented towards the observance of environmental sustainability principles. In this context, the project assumes purposes of great landscape integration, proposing living spaces in close proximity and communion with the natural elements of the surroundings.