Canine & Feline Hotel

The Canine & Feline Hotel is located in Parada, Vila do Conde and the main program consists of 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.