projects

Located on the southern coast of Santiago, the main island of Cape Verde, the 650ha site that is Estrela Santiago extends along five km of unspoilt coastline. The client’s aim is to transform the site into the benchmark for resort development in the region with three luxury hotels, some 2,400 new villas and apartments, a Nick Faldo designed golf course and an array of other leisure facilities.

ReardonSmith was appointed by ARCK Estrela to review and revitalise the coastal aspect of an existing masterplan. This process included the design in detail of two, 200-room five star resort hotels and one smaller, 65-room luxury hotel, a golf clubhouse, a destination spa and Drakes Harbour village, which, with its many retail and leisure components will form the heart of the resort.

One of the large hotels, the golf hotel, will be terraced into the landscape across six levels, rendering the majority of the development invisible from the entry level and affording guests fabulous views from their rooms over the golf course and towards the Atlantic Ocean. This hotel will also have conference facilities, an associated spa and a small private beach.

The other large hotel will be situated alongside the main beach and will be more family orientated than the golf hotel. Public areas will be located around a courtyard with views across the pools, the beach and out to sea. Guestrooms will all have sea views and will be low density, providing for each unit to have private external space. The destination spa will be situated nearby.

The boutique hotel is to be located towards the secluded and dramatic western edge of the coastal front. With guestrooms ranging in size from a minimum 100 sq metres up to a presidential suite of 350 sq metres, all with breathtaking views over the rugged coastline, this hotel is destined to become the most exclusive in the archipelago. The village, with its pretty natural harbour, will be developed between the beach hotel and the boutique hotel.

Great care has been taken to ensure that Estrela Santiago meets the highest environmental standards from energy generation and performance through to the careful selection of construction materials and techniques. A number of solutions to water scarcity have been explored, including rainwater retention, both site wide and building specific, and grey and black water recycling. Rainfall can very occasionally be heavy and a series of reservoirs are to be built to capture water as it flows down the site, preventing erosion and creating a sustainable supply of clean water.

Locally sourced building materials will be used where possible to provide suitable thermal mass and resistance. Stabilised rammed earth and natural stone quarried on site figure prominently in the palette of materials and will be used in conjunction with chain of custody certified timber throughout the resort. Year round sunshine will provide the energy for water heating across the site and technologies such as photovoltaics, geothermal energy and wind and tidal power generation are being assessed for integration into the site wide infrastructure. Active and passive shading devices have been designed alongside active and passive ventilation systems to ensure heating and cooling demand is kept to a minimum.