Renaissance Porto Lapa Hotel nominated for Hotel Building of the Year in Archello Awards 2023

• 14 November, 23

The Archello Awards is an affordable and exhilarating global awards programme celebrating the very best architecture projects and building products in the world.

Archello Awards 2023 has revealed its longlist for Hotel Building of the Year. Renaissance Lapa Porto Hotel is nominated for Hotel Building of The Year, architecture by Visioarq that the first hotel in Portugal makes its debut at the Arechello Awards.

There are around 51 countries competing in a list that defines the best in architecture and design. Criteria such as technique, innovation, social relevance, and sustainability give Renaissance Porto Lapa Hotel a prestigious place in the Hotel Building of the Year category.

The proposed challenge of designing a 4-star elegant and sophisticated urban refuge hotel, breaking the traditional concept of most hotels in this rating, was met with a strong investment in exterior architecture. 

Renaissance Lapa Hotel was developed by Mercan Group that qualified for Portugal Golden Visa program with investment amount reached around 56 million euros. The hotel is operated under Renaissance brand, which is Premium brand which belongs to one of the World’s largest hotels – Marriot and became the first hotel Marriott Renaissance in Porto.

Mercan’s hotel offers 163 rooms and suites, a conference and event room for 500 people, an outdoor infinity pool on the rooftop, restaurant, bar and terrace with a unique panoramic view over the city of Porto, in a location of great centrality.

The construction of the Renaissance Porto Lapa Hotel was decisive for the rehabilitation of a 3 hectares area in Porto. The building was coated on the main façade with a microperforated metal wrap that works as a “second skin”, to establish an urban relationship with the existing hillside in the historic Lapa district, protecting and visually rendering this great hotel lighter. The metallic “sails” that form a geometric pattern evoke both the Douro boats and the design of the hydraulic mosaics, in a discreet homage to the elements that mark the Porto city.

The infinity pool, suspended in a 3 meters span above the rooftop and overlooking the Atlantic, is the meeting point between the hotel and the city, and is assumed to be a new privileged viewpoint of the “World’s Leading City Destination in 2022”: Porto. 

The architecture of the new Renaissance Porto Lapa Hotel is based on a solid concept: To grow the city with inspiring forms, using the simplicity and elegance of the cosmopolitan lifestyle. A new atmosphere in the city will be provided through the new and rehabilitated green park of the Renaissance Porto Lapa Hotel, which can be freely enjoyed by all inhabitants of the city of Porto.

Cre: archello