Water, Wine, Wood & Industry: The Rebello in Porto by Metro Urbe and Quiet Studios.

In the old days, Porto‘s Duoro River would glisten with rabelos filled to the brim with barrels of port wine. Over the years, the small wooden boats—unique to Porto—were eclipsed by faster, more efficient means of transport. But their significance never faded. Even today, they are common sights along the river, treating holidayers to a quick sail or two, and lining up in colourful rows along the waterfront. Their history is honoured in other ways too, by namesakes in the way of restaurants, cafes and hotels scattered across the city.

One example is The Rebello, a five-star hotel in Vila Nova de Gaia (a ten-minute drive from Porto), spread across four 19th-century industrial buildings with panoramic vistas of Porto. The work of architects Metro Urbe and interior design studio Quiet Studios, both Lisbon-based, what makes the property even more special is its proximity to the city’s only remaining boatyard.

Previously unoccupied, the site had once held a factory for kitchen utensils—a reference that served as the seed point for the new ground-floor restaurant. But kitchen inspiration aside, the site had little to offer. The architectural team adopted a comprehensive approach to revive the bones and highlight the historic stonework while reimagining the structures to meet world-class hospitality standards. As Bomporto Hotels’s third venue in Portugal, the hotel holds a mirror to the laid-back style of its Lisbon cousins, while asserting an identity that is distinctly its own.

Village by BOA: A Heritage Resort in Porto by Pablo Pita, Heim Balp Architekten & Bacana Studio.

Established at the end of the nineteenth century, Bairro do Silva is the sort of pace that straddles vernacular and voguish, simple and swish...

The Rebello marries homelike comforts with hotel-style luxuries. Comprising 103 apartments, a restaurant, a rooftop bar, a lobby bar, a kids’ club, two meeting rooms, a spa, a gym, a shop and a coffee shop, it’s equally ideal for work and play. And not just for holidayers. It welcomes discerning travellers and locals in equal spirit, serving as a hotspot for nomads, artists and entrepreneurs from around the globe.

The site’s industrial past set the stage for its future. In terms of interior design, anyway. Interior designer Daniela Franceschini of Quiet Studios brought an eclectic spirit to the spaces with original artworks and handicrafts in distinctive colours, textures and materials. Daniela combined works of Portuguese artists and makers with pieces and reproductions by noted international designers to bring about a global sensibility through local sensitivity. Her four touchpoints through the creative process were water, wine, wood and industry.

White Hotel on São Miguel Island by Quiet Studios.

Leaning over the Atlantic Ocean in São Miguel, where the colours of the sea blend with the horizon, is a boutique hotel in Portugal’s Azores...

“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, as also 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,” Daniela elaborates. Her words ring true in the reception area, where a nautical installation, designed by THER and made from old rabelo parts, takes pride of place. Other examples include ceramic works by Joana Passos, flower arrangements by Beatriz Faria Ribeiro, a lamp by Casa Josephine Studio and tapestries by Edurne Camacho.

The rooms hold a candle to the common areas. Artworks by Pedro Guimarães, objects by Grau Cerâmica and artisanal blankets made in Serra da Estrela by Burel Factory are amongst the novelties on display, as are opuses by international artists such as Josep Maynou and Tomek Sadurski. Equally of note are the sinks inspired by old water tanks and amorphous headboards that mimic the ripples of the Duoro. Whether outdoors or indoors, here or there, the river is a leitmotif that reappears over and over, buoying and guiding guests through a stay like no other.

Polished, Grown-up & a Little Bit Wild: Birch Selsdon Hotel by A-nrd.

Once a 19th-century gothic-style mansion, this property was converted into a hotel in the 1920s, but its most recent transformation...

[Images courtesy of Metro Urbe & Quiet Studios. Photography by Francisco Nogueira.]