Canine & Feline Hotel by Raulino Silva Arquitecto | World Design Awards 2020

Raulino Silva Arquitecto: Honorable mention of World Design Awards 2020. The Canine & Feline Hotel is located in Parada, Vila do Conde and the main program consists of a temporary dog and cat accommodation, a hotel where the animals stay for a few days, during holidays or professional travel of their owners. The remaining program is a complement to the space’s activity, with a veterinary office, a grooming room, outdoor training areas and a swimming pool for pets.

The program is distributed over three buildings that are interconnected, allowing to create three different areas. This way we got to separate the cat zone from the dog zone, avoiding the meeting of both and reducing the animal noises. In another building we find all the public service spaces.

In combination with the programmatic layout needs, the three volumes were designed to reduce the impact of the construction area in order to improve its landscape integration.

The first volume, with only one floor, corresponds to the reception and support area, with service desk, a small shop, a storage room, the sanitary facilities, an office, a veterinary’s office and a grooming room.

The second volume is the biggest one and takes advantage of the existing topographic for the creation of two floors, functioning as a link between the highest part of the terrain (the entrance area) and the lower part (the playground for the animals). Upstairs we have forty-one dogs’ shelter separated by the central corridor with a small garden to obstruct the eye contact of the animals facing each other. In the lower floor, with a spiral staircase access, we have a multipurpose space, a technical room, a laundry room and a locker room and bathroom for employees.

The third volume corresponds to the cats’ shelter, is the smallest one and has twelve independent accommodation spaces, with a central space of circulation around an interior garden that serves as a playground area for cats and is lit by a large skylight.

About the house finishing’s, the outside walls and ceilings are covered in ETICS system whit light grey color and thermal insulation on all surfaces. In the roof are used bitumen sheet membranes, thermal insulation and protection by natural pebble stone. On the balconies and in the car parking area of visitors is used dark grey concrete flooring. On the access route to the basement floor (loading and unloading services) is used region’s granite cube.

Inside, the floor of all spaces is continuous and waterproof, with the application of self-leveling epoxy floor. On the walls of the bathrooms, in the changing rooms, on the stairs and in the interior garden of the dog building is used a single light grey microcement coating. The doors and cabinets carpentry are made with white lacquered MDF.

Outside, the granite stone walls were cleaned and preserved, keeping the same old construction method. In the fence of the dog training camps are used granite posts to secure the fence nets. These granite posts already existed on the ground, and were used in the vineyard near the walls of the planting field.

Firm: Raulino Silva Arquitecto
Architect: Raulino Silva
Category: Hospitality Built
Project Location: Parada, Vila do Conde
Team: Raulino Silva, Daniela Amorim, Cátia Sampaio, João Mendes, Carla Ribeiro, Hélder Jesus, Elena Marino, Giuliano Pavarese
Country: Portugal
Photography ©Credit: João Morgado

Raulino Silva was born in Vila do Conde (1981), he is architect by the Escola Superior Artística do Porto, and he has had his own office in Vila do Conde, in North of Portugal.

The built works won the awards, the Muse Design Awards 2020, the IF Design Awards 2019, IDA Design Awards 2019, the European 40 Under 40 Awards 2018, the International Architecture Awards 2018, the Architecture MasterPrize 2018, the Iconic Awards 2017, and the Baku International Architecture Award 2015.