The Best of Europe (Hospitality) vol. 5

PALÁCIO LUDOVICE WINE EXPERIENCE HOTEL – LISBOA BY MCM ARCHITECTURE DESIGN LDA

In charge of the renovation works at Palácio Ludovice Wine Hotel was the renowned Portuguese architect and designer Miguel Câncio Martins, internationally recognized for emblematic projects such as the Buddha Bar in Paris, the Opium in London, and for hotels such as Quinta da Comporta in Portugal.

The project is a façade developed in 5 floors of unequal height and dimensions, opened by a large central door with decorated pilasters, windows framed in stone, balconies with stunning views over Lisbon and of the Bairro Alto neighbourhood, 18th century white-and-blue tiled walls, a Chapel with Masonic symbols and a hebraic inscription, palatial rooms with stucco ceilings and a majestic staircase.

DESIGNER IN PROFILE: NINI ANDRADE SILVA, ATELIER NINI ANDRADE SILVA

Tell us a little about your background in design (education, experience, etc)
I Born in Funchal – Madeira Island – and graduated in Design at the Institute of Visual Arts, Design and Marketing (IADE) in Lisbon, and simultaneously I pursued my academic and professional experience abroad, studying and working in New York, London, Paris, South Africa and Denmark.

In pursuing my passions, I had dedicated my time over the years to “discover worlds to the world.” In the last Twenty years I had travelled to several different countries, among many other journeys in which I socialized with the locals, learned their culture and that was added to my work, incorporating multiculturalism and transversally in the art that so well characterises my work, and that distinguishes it around the world.

How would you describe your personal interior design style?
I’m a storytelling and my design speaks about a connection between the territorial context and a high level of detail. The coherence of the whole is achieved through the sum of its parts.

I fashioned a new style – that some call as Ninimalism, which means that “it is not what you see but what you feel”, and at this point, it is vital to associate another dimension to the art of projecting, that of the emotions or senses responsible for the extrasensory coherence of spaces.