The Rebello has opened its doors on the banks of the River Douro in VilaNova de Gaia. Spread across four 19th century industrial buildings, the hotel is Bomporto Hotels’ third project in Portugal, bringing 103 new apartments, a restaurant, rooftop bar, spa and coffee shop to the city.
Architects Metro Urbe adopted an integrated approach to breathe new life into the site, which originally comprised seven separate buildings and now stretches across four: two newly-built central blocks adapted to the site’s topography and two side buildings that preserve historical features such as the façades and stone structure.
Spanish designer Daniela Franceschini of Quiet Studios was tasked with crafting the interiors, resulting in a design scheme inspired by how artists and creatives have used industrial spaces throughout history, full of eclectic design and artwork. Using distinctive colours, textures and materials, Franceschini has relied on the support of Portuguese artists to design much of the art and furniture that sits alongside pieces by renowned international designers.
Among the vintage and contemporary objects scattered across The Rebello, the designer highlights the four key elements behind the entire creative process: water, wine, wood and industry. “There’s a nautical feel to the colours, materials and textures. That also comes through in the lighting, which is suggestive of floating and sailboats, and in the lamps with chains, the wooden shelves by Tomaz Viana, the ceramic nets by Fig Studio and the undulating mirrors that evoke the movement of the sea.”
The reception area, for instance, features a nautical installation made from recycled materials from rabelos – traditional Portuguese wooden cargo boats – designed by studio THER in collaboration with an artisan from Vila Nova de Gaia. Ceramic pieces by Joana Passos and flower arrangements by Beatriz Faria Ribeiro (Menez) provide the finishing touches, as does a lamp designed by Casa Josephine Studio and tapestries by Edurne Camacho.
Within apartments, interiors are decorated with artwork by Pedro Guimarães, objects by Grau Cerâmica and artisanal blankets made in Serra da Estrela by Burel Factory. Tailor-made pieces influenced by nautical and industrial design can be found throughout, such as sinks inspired by old water tanks, and organically-styled bed headboards that resemble the rippling waters of the Douro.
Inspired by Roman baths, the spa at The Rebello comprises a heated pool, sauna, fitness centre and four treatment rooms, as well as a tranquility water lounge with lamps that mimic the phases of the sun and moon.
Food and beverage venues, like the property’s design as a whole, continue to draw inspiration from the site’s history. With the location previously home to a factory making kitchen utensils, the hotel’s ground floor restaurant – aptly named Pot&Pan – sees dishes served to share in pots and pans. Chef André Coutinho has curated a short menu of traditional Portuguese cooking with a modern twist, offered up in a setting intended to replicate the feel of a good friend’s house. The hotel’s F&B offer is completed by a fourth floor rooftop bar and restaurant, and a lobby bar and café.
