Myriad by SANA Hotels - Vasco da Gama Tower Lisbon

The main features at the World Expo 1998 in Lisbon were the Vasco da Gama tower and the skyscraper rising beside it. Today, this emblematic building holds the hotel Vasco da Gama Tower Lisbon, a 145 m high steel structure, designed by the architect Regino Cruz. Its large geometrical skeleton resembling the sail of a caravel, dominates its surroundings. The building is formed by two, clearly different, supporting elements: a reinforced concrete nucleus, crowned by the observation deck, 120 m above the ground; and the steel structure rising from the base of the tower to the top of the deck.

The “Vasco da Gama Tower Royal Hotel”, integrated within the tower and sitting over the River Tagus, is 20 storeys high and holds 186 rooms. The building is formed by two main bodies, resembling two sails, built on either side of the reinforced concrete nucleus, opposite the steel structure. Between them, 3 panoramic elevators take visitors to the top of the tower’s observation deck and the panoramic restaurant. The complex was designed by Portuguese architect Nuno Leonidas.

In 2004, the Expo’ 98 managing society – Parque Expo – closed the building down, owing to its high maintenance costs and the need to make the most of the unexploited space available. However, restoration and refurbishment works soon started, completing today’s Vasco da Gama Tower luxury 5-star hotel that belongs to the Portuguese chain SANA.

More than 20,000 square m of URSA GLASSWOOL P4652 mineral wool panels were used in this hotel. These panels are normally used as exterior insulation in ventilated cavity walls, both in new construction and restorations. The panels are fixed to the external side of the supporting wall, while a structural metal system allows fixing light panels or cladding, protecting and decorating the façade.