Canine and Feline Hotel is accommodation for animals in Parada, Portugal, built on an old vineyard by local studio Raulino Silva Arquitecto.
Three light white-grey blocks, connected by external corridors, form the dog and cat hotel complex, which has been shortlisted for hospitality building of the year at Dezeen Awards 2020.
Pets whose owners are away travelling for work or holidays can bring their animal companions to stay and enjoy the facilities of the Canine and Feline Hotel, which include a grooming parlour and a pet pool.
An on-site veterinarian has an office in one of the blocks, alongside the grooming rooms.
Across the courtyard is the cat accommodation, with twelve individual rooms facing inwards towards an indoor play area for the feline guests lit by a large skylight.
In a separate block – a move by Raulino Silva Arquitecto to keep guests of different species apart to minimise antagonism and noise – are the dog hotel rooms.
This long block contains two rows of kennels either side of a corridor that leads to an indoor play area for dogs.
An internal garden runs through the middle of the corridor, blocking the dogs across the corridor from each other’s views. All the rooms have big glass windows looking out onto the gardens.
To take advantage of the sloping site, this volume is two storeys, with a staff area with showers and a locker room accessed via a spiral staircase.
The dogs are allowed outside to play and enjoy a dog training camp. This area is secured by a net fence strung on the granite posts that used to be the supports for the vines of the vineyard.
Orignal granite walls around the site have been restored, and local granite used to pave the access route to the loading and unloading areas in the basement.
Raulino Silva Arquitecto clad the exterior of the Canine and Feline Hotel in white-grey panels of external thermal insulation composite system (ETICS). The roof is made of bitumen, covered by a layer of thermal insulation and held down by pebbles.
Floors are made of durable and easy-to-clean self-levelling epoxy, a coating applied to concrete that creates a seamless finish.
A single coating of grey micro cement was applied to the floors of the bathrooms and the indoor dog pay area to create a non-slip yet washable surface. Doors and cabinetry are made of white lacquered MDF.
Raulino Silva Arquitecto was founded in 2011 by Raulino Silva and is based in Vila do Conde.
More architecture for pets includes an animal hospital in London designed to keep dogs and cats away from each other, and a grooming parlour in Hangzhou where owners can hang out with their pooches.
Photography is by João Morgado.
Raulino Silva Arquitecto designs a hotel for cats and dogs in Portugal [Dezeen]