A master plan and subsequent detailed planning consent drawn up for a new village fronting onto Martinhal Beach near Cape St Vincent in the Algarve, Europe’s literal and mythical ‘finis terrae’ (end of the earth). The client insisted the development should appear to ‘grow naturally out of the landscape’, so the building masses are disaggregated and arranged to exploit the site’s complex topography. Conran & Partners worked creatively with a local landscape specialist to ensure the scheme responded sensitively to its dramatic and ecologically sensitive site. The proposals strived to preserve and enhance the unique local flora – wild rose and pistaccio, lavender, rosemary and thyme – rather than suppressing it in favour of the ‘parasols and flamingos’ so familiar in resorts further east along the coast.

The foreslope of a small hill running down to the beach is occupied by the hotel, broken into its constituent parts – reception lodge, pool terrace and bedroom cabins – reminiscent of the practice’s work at Niki Club (see Hotels and Spas). Along the crest of this ridge, rows of self-contained duplex apartments look out over the hotel to the sea. Further inland set in a gently dished col, a naturalistic walled ‘garden’ is formed to provide the setting for the larger houses and small groups of apartments. At the centre of the garden, further walls shelter a water-garden at the apex of a steep ‘water gradient’ running from the centre to the arrid perimeter of the site. Management of water, a scare resource at certain times of the year, is critical to the design of landscaping at Martinhal.

"Rising to the challenge of designing a truly perfect place has been the task of Conran & Partners where the team, headed by Matthew Wood, has surpassed even our expectations."
Nigel Chapman, Four Winds Resorts.