Abstract

This article presents an architectural design proposal that combines three contemporary concepts: sustainability, architectural rehabilitation, and tourism. The concepts are briefly discussed. To exemplify their articulation/merging, a real case study was selected, namely Águias Villa and its palace in Lisbon. Urban surroundings research and SWOT analysis support the idea to rehabilitate the villa. Águias Villa and its palace, a valuable place from a patrimonial and/or architectural point of view, are currently vacant and can be adapted to a new use – a hotel – that is suitable to the geographical, social, and economic context in the medium and long term. An integrated methodology that merges the abovementioned three concepts and the place attributes to define the architectural design guidelines was developed. The sustainable techniques and strategies proposed for the palace’s rehabilitation and the new buildings promote sustainable tourism. As a result, Águias Villa’s conversion into a hotel is presented, demonstrating the three concepts’ compatibility through a balanced architectural design with high performance potential.