hotel inspira
Promontório Architects
Text by Paulo Martins Barata
Promontório was involved in the creation of Inspira, a new hotel brand resulting from a joint venture between the Madeira island hoteliers Blandy and Investoc, the holding company of the Osório de Castro family. Aimed at the leisure / city-breakers, corporate and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) market segments, the chain’s first hotel, the 89-bdr Inspira Santa Martha, is located on a street parallel to the busy Avenida da Liberdade.
The plot consisted of a deep perimeter block facing Santa Marta Street. The remains of site consisted in the façade of an early 18th-century palace fronting the Santa Martha street, that was to be preserved, while on the backyard, the vast and odd remnants of a dilapidated printing house were demolished. With 5 terraced storeys above ground, and three levels of underground parking and technical areas, the rooms are distributed around a deep and long sky-lit atrium that begins in the foyer, and ends in a theatrical stairway functioning as an informal lounge/event space.
