Torre de Palma Wine Hotel is an installation of a new program to the already-existed agricultural landscape in Monforte, Portugal. Completed recently in November 2014 by João Mendes Ribeiro, the new addition rethinks the use of older infrastructures, such as the farm buildings, in order to generate new architecture with multiple courtyards that accommodate different activities.

Due to the scale of the project, I have condensed it to focus on the minimal interior that reflects the newness being introduced to the old estate. With a simple gesture of covering the interior in white, the architect masked his interventions, including replacements to structural elements. The new group of buildings share a common aesthetic of minimalistic and crisp geometry, having the highlights of wooden claddings, concrete textures, and tile works that complexify the white canvas. The monochromatic wine cellar is starkly contrast to the ground level, having dark materials with slivers of light that create the mood and ambience appropriately.

The project is highly ambitious in my opinion, and it was finished successfully with beautiful spatial qualities that are both diverse and unified. While standing out in the bare landscape of the Alentejo plains, João Mendes Ribeiro cleverly tied his designs together using the most simple and effective treatments to the interiors.

Photography courtesy of do mal o menos - Eduardo Nascimento e João Fôja.