The
“Hotel da Vila” is a small hotel, located in Ponta do Sol, a village on the
southwestcoast
of the Island of Madeira. It stands on the sunny sea
front of the village, with magnificent views of
the Atlantic Ocean. It has fifteen double
bedrooms.
Local materials and craftsmanship, were used to create the ground floor
café/ bar, the
reception areas and designed most of the hotel furniture, including the rooms. Wood
and stones
from the surrounding mountains were used to make some of the objects and
furniture.
Working
on a very tight budget, the design was kept simple and raw, using inexpensive
materials such
as the mixture of blue Portuguese tiles in the kitchen or the front desk made
of re-used wood. Taking
inspiration from the rural culture and its ingenuity, objects like the floor
and table lamps,
the plastic and wheat straw headboard pillows or the ceiling lamps of the
restaurant, reveal an unexpected and humorous wit.The
building’s interior is completely clad in black and white, including the
furniture in the guests’
rooms which is mostly white. The table and floor lamps were custom made in
painted and natural
wood, and even the white TV matches the room colour.Upon
crossing the ‘cartoon like’ hotel front door, a glass desk with two wooden
stools welcomes
the guests. On the left hand side a door invites them to have a drink at the bar/restaurant,
in an area which highly contrasts with the hotel’s white interior. It has a
wood covered
ceiling and wall with two windows facing the blue tiled kitchen. The other wall
is an irregular
pleated surface which opens to an outside terrace where coffee or meals can be
enjoyed in
the shadow of old palm trees. In