
Discover ´Tipografia do Conto’, A Discreet Charm In The Heart Of Porto ♦ Porto has embraced a new project. In an old workshop of graphic arts, in which books and other papers were printed, Tipogtrafia do Conto was born to conquer the heart of the youth. This hotel has maintained the memory of the place and has used fresh and simple materials to keep it all minimal. Secrets from Portugal went there and is going to show you all about Tipografia do Conto. Enjoy!
♦ Discover All About This Tipografia Do Conto & Subscribe to Our Newsletter ♦

Tipogafia do Conto was born in March 2019, in Álvares Cabral Street, via classified as a public interest group due to its architectural and urbanistic value, reflecting the collective memory of the city as a paradigmatic example of the social organization of Oporto in the NINETEENTH century. Here live industrial buildings, as is the case of the typography of the tale, with other architectural styles, encompassing Neoclassic, Beaux-Arts, revivalist styles and some examples of modernist architecture.

The residence typography of the tale is born from the reconstruction, alteration and expansion of an old workshop/warehouse of the beginning of the TWENTIETH century – typography and workshop graphics assembled, of which remain some memories in the building. The proposal is based on an idea of intervention that combines the memory of workshop and large warehouse space, with the new proposed use of housing tourism.
Tipografia do Conto has the perfect name. this hotel is a “second chapter” of the first hotel of the group “House of the tale”, the guest house that Nuno Grande ( architect) and his wife, Alexandra (an engineer) opened in 2011 near Rua da Boavista. The architecture project is based on the Stone Net atelier, which both found, and this can be seen in the use of concrete, which, as in the previous project, is also here the dominant material, along with iron, wood and ceramics.

In this building of the early twentieth century, consisting of two houses, with a courtyard in the middle, kept everything that was possible. From the stone façade, Art Deco style, to the shelves, reused for shelves, we can see in the room where breakfast is served (from 8 to 11h). In the inner courtyard, which is seen from the reception, a new wooden facade appeared, which the couple wanted to associate “with the memory of the drawers where the typographic characters were kept”.

The past of the old typography and graphic arts workshop – it was here curiously that Nuno Grande printed his doctoral thesis – is prolonged in the rooms, with lyrics embedded in the concrete ceiling, in loose or phrases, of various artists ( an idea of the collective R2 Design, with phrases by Diogo Seixas Lopes, Álvaro Domingues, Silvia Sfligiotti, Vanina Pinter, Pedro Bandeira, André Tavares, Jan Middendorp, among others).

The décor, with the taste of Alexandra, is marked by leather sofas, lounge chairs and retro dressers, brought from antique dealers. The rooms face the street as well as the inner courtyard and the garden at the rear – a beautiful garden with a swimming pool, typical of “the discreet charm of the Porto bourgeoisie”, notes Nuno Grande. More than a hotel, this is, above all, a place with many stories to tell.

The new design maintains the main facades in granite doors, the tradesperson’s walls equally in granite and the dimensions of the pre-existing lot. In this rehabilitation we sought to requalify the facades and the interior of the building, opting whenever possible for the restoration of the pre-existing elements and the reuse of them, as are examples the woods that cover the facades in the inner courtyard.

The typography of the tale follows the same principles of the House of the tale, the first project of this hotel promoter, whose work, from the Atelier Pedra Liquid, received the Honorable mention of the award João de Almada 2012, destined to award the best examples of rehabilitation In the city of Porto. The typography of the tale, the work of the same atelier, resurfaces now completely rehabilitated proposing, once again, to contradict the usual residential offer of the city, increasingly generic and impersonal, by recreating the atmosphere of typography – art and process of Creation in the composition and printing of a text.

The social areas of typography – reception, living room, canteen, bar and garden are distributed on Floors 0, reserding the floors above the private space of the rooms. All of the accommodation, which includes 10 suites provide different environments and sensations, having been equipped and decorated with pieces of author and furniture of different eras. The suites are modern and comfortable, the cubic bathrooms that fill each of the suites are functional and spacious.

Tipografia do Conto is a space of Arts, Books and Residence, which will articulate the function of residential tourism with the realization of cultural events in the area of creative industries, the edition, promotion and launch of books of art and architecture, Involving, where possible, the residents themselves. This know-how was already acquired with the project Casa do Conto, inaugurated by the same promoter in 2011 in Oporto, and that has been distinguished by the search for accommodation and exhibition by artists and architects, who disseminate their work in interaction with the space of House (often in a site-specific logic).

It is anticipated that its 10 lodgings may serve, among other modalities, as temporary residence to creators of various disciplines and others interested in participating in the different cultural events to be held on its extensive ground floor, this being Formed, for this purpose, by a multipurpose area complemented by a central courtyard and a backyard. This polyvalence will allow the installation of temporary layouts for exhibitions, colloquia, workshops, the release of editions, and even for small musical concerts.

In the typography now rebuilt, after 100 years of history in Oporto, elegance is enhanced to receive people in a cultural environment of reference. A project that could only take place on the map of a city, a territory that propels the confrontation of the characters and the stimulus of creation.

In the typography now rebuilt, after 100 years of history in Oporto, elegance is enhanced to receive people in a cultural environment of reference. A project that could only take place on the map of a city, a territory that propels the confrontation of the characters and the stimulus of creation.