Ecork Hotel | José Carlos Cruz Arquitecto

Ecork is a Hotel in Évora , Portugal , with a spa , health club , gym, restaurant , bar , conference rooms , outdoor pool and 56 bungalows . Built on a set of cork and olive trees, the general plan is inspired in the Medieval villages of the Alentejo, where it was common to find a main complex ( Castle ) and several white buildings around it . All services and hotel facilities are aggregated into a single building, freeing the land outside the bungalows. Influenced by the vernacular and Arabic architecture, is created a monolithic volume with small openings to the outside ,which together with cork coating , fully recyclable , ensures thermal protection of the building . Built around a large courtyard ,the layout is designed so as to take advantage of cross- winds and air circulation , thus reducing power consumption to the minimum necessary . In order to ensure the lowest possible occupation and overview of the Alentejo Landscape, outdoor pool and bar are located on the roof of the building . All 56 bungalows are suites . Their deployment, scattered among the olive trees around the property is defined by the structure of internal thoroughfares . These paths are read as a series of abstract volumes and surfaces, plastered and whitewashed.