The Costa Nova Sailing Club, one of the oldest nautical clubs in the Ria de Aveiro estuary area, was divided into 3 main spaces: the restaurant, the club members bar and the terrace. For each of these spaces, there was a specific audience with different preferences and traditions, which caused the great challenge of this project. We intended to renew a space damaged by time and, at the same time, to maintain the recognizable space of the “old”, respecting the memories and their value, still relevant to all members of the Club.
Thus, the wood remained as the backdrop of the typical Costa Nova haystack, so as to root this memory. However, it was always used allied to the modern technologies, as for example, in the backlit wood pieces, so to create a unique and comfortable environment. In terms of the morphology of the space, it was clear that its excessive division was hampering the flow of the route, so we decided to create a single counter, which maintained, even though sublime, the division between the restaurant and the bar. At the restaurant, we decided to take advantage of the back view over the ria through large spans with a minimalist expression to maintain a cleaner panoramic view. And the kitchen, now expanded, allowed the user to monitor the work and its conditions.
On the terrace, the decision to perpetuate the haystack modules was very clear, but it would have to be in a clearly modern language in order to create a separation between the new and the old, as one does not want to be the other. Thus, we decided to redo these modules through slatted roofs in the directions of the cardinal points and their intermediate, achieving a purposeful shadow at certain times of the day, without requiring alternative devices to block the full entry of sunlight.
