HOTEL REVIEW


This cooling darkness will have already become apparent in the public spaces. Dark wooden panels covering the walls and ceiling have been stained to match the rusting sheet metal at the exterior of the entrance. The ceiling of the lobby has a wave-like curve and the banquette seating in the adjacent restaurant is made more intimate by a continuum of panelling that curves up from the walls and across the ceiling. This material is a unifying force throughout the hotel and used in the guestroom casework of desk and bed surrounds, some of which also extend to the ceiling.


TOP LEFT: Costumes fro the films of Filipe La Feria are displayed on hanging rails or on mannequins in display cases ABOVE: A curved ceiling and wall feature in rusted sheet metal overhangs the banquettes in the Palco restaurant


The panelling’s relative ruggedness is reflected in the extensive smoked-glass mirrors of the bedrooms and softened by the display pillows and velvet or Alcantara upholstered lounge chairs and chaise long. There is no artwork in the guestrooms; the dark patterning of the closely cropped carpet by Lusotufo is imaged with banks of highly magnified theatrical spotlights. This is a busy and large enough detail, flashed with gold, bronze and white highlights. Within the darkness, theatrical references abound. “The hotel reflects its theatrical past as well as a permanent search between the space harmony and design, which is felt in every room, area or detail of the Hotel Teatro,” explains Andrade Silva. There is no doubt


064 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2010 WWW.SLEEPERMAGAZINE.COM


as to the thoroughness of Andrade Silva’s exploitation of the thespian narrative. Take the curtains. Many walls are curtained


with fabrics from Barreiros & Barreiros, irrespective of whether there are windows behind them. In guestrooms, bathroom entrances are accessed by curtains. Hanging cupboard spaces are hidden by curtains. Even the carpets have images of curtains running through them. The heavy ropes strung up the walls and across the ceiling of the dark Plateia bar (plateia is Portuguese for stalls) are exactly those used to move stage curtains. The reception desk is modelled on a ticket office; the low cylindrical arrangement of fixed seating opposite is decorated with a film reel of footage from productions by Portuguese director Filipe La Feria. Significant costumes used in La Feria’s work are displayed on hanging rails or, more dramatically, dressed on mannequins within glass display cases. Staff uniforms are also suitably theatrical whilst a wall in the Palco restaurant (palco is Portuguese for stage) depicts a black and white image of a theatre audience, doctored to include the faces of those involved in the project.


“The scenery recreated in every


environment keeps the intended drama to the fore,” says Andrade. A drama seen when walking towards the darkened ends of


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