The Emerald House
Hilton built its first Curio Collection hotel in Portugal with a global approach that included two separate but interconnected interventions. On the one hand, they’re the renovation, with interior remodelling, of the existing building; and, on the other, the construction of a new building in the urban spaces. The two buildings together formed an architectural complex that affirmed itself as a whole, unified functionally and formally through dialogue between the two.
The architectural approach was based essentially on the use and re-reading of surviving formal elements and materialities that characterise this area of Lisbon.
The metrics used and the proportion given to the window openings, the glazed ceramics of the azulejo tile and the Lioz stone, are the combined elements that sustain the contemporary approach. However, said approach is also consistent with the materiality and the occupied/void rhythm of the surrounding area, reflecting the strategic choice for continuity and balance.
The structure is fluid in terms of the solutions for materials and soft colours, strengthening the unity of the complex. This hotel, located in Rua das Janelas Verdes in one of Lisbon’s most emblematic historic neighbourhoods, and given the name of The Emerald House. As the name suggests, it is more than a hotel; it is a home. Indeed, one of the guidelines for the design was the very warm and typically Portuguese art of receiving people well.
