Hotel Bodega Enoa Suites: a rehabilitated house from 1857 that revives the past with respect for its wine-related identity

In the interior of the province of Valencia, far from the coast yet deeply connected to the Mediterranean landscape, Requena has for centuries been a territory shaped by vines and wine. Cultivated slopes, bodegas excavated into the rock, and a Designation of Origin that bears its name express an economy and a culture that have defined the way the city has been inhabited, built, and organised. Requena is not only a historic town; it is a place where wine production has woven the memory of the site, shaping the materiality of its streets, the texture of its walls, and the way its inhabitants live..

The historic centre preserves houses that grow above underground galleries and deep cellars, structures that reveal a continuous use rooted in the experience of climate and landscape. Here, architecture is not read solely as form, but as an accumulation of time, practices, and living landscapes. Intervening in this urban fabric—rehabilitating a centuries-old house, preserving a historic cellar—means recognising a built memory shaped equally by viticulture and everyday life. It is within this context of cultural and material production that the Hotel Bodega Enoa Suites is situated, an intervention by Lecoc Arquitectura that understands rehabilitation as an exercise in listening and in integrating the past with contemporary use.

The intervention begins with the aim of rescuing the building’s identity without transforming it. Rather than erasing the marks left by time, the project incorporates them as an essential part of the space. Eroded walls, timber floor structures, and irregular surfaces remain visible, consolidating the original structure and restoring to the house an honest reading of its own biography.

The interior organisation is structured around a wet core that orders the dwelling and acts as a separating element without the need for compartmentalisation. Around it, spaces unfold in a continuous manner, without partitions, encouraging a fluid sequence that blurs the boundaries between rooms. This arrangement allows for an open and flexible way of inhabiting, where movement is shaped more by perception and use than by the traditional hierarchy of spaces.

The cellar occupies a central place in the project, both spatially and symbolically. Thirteenth-century clay jars are preserved and integrated here, offering direct testimony to Requena’s winemaking tradition. The cellar thus becomes a living space: guests have access to a selection of wines and to their own private bodega, extending the experience beyond accommodation and linking the stay to local culture.

From a material perspective, the intervention follows a strategy of recovery rather than concealment. Original materials are presented with sincerity, revealing the layers accumulated over time and establishing a direct dialogue between what already exists and the new additions. Contemporary decisions are expressed with restraint, avoiding competition with the historic structure and opting instead for precise, functional, and quiet solutions.

The Hotel Bodega Enoa Suites thus presents itself as an exercise in continuity between history, matter, and present-day life. A rehabilitation that does not seek to reinterpret the past, but to make it habitable once again, understanding architecture as an attentive support for memory and for those who choose to revive it today.

Project: Hotel Bodega Enoa Suites.
Location: Requena (Valencia).
Completed: 2025.
Client: Enoa Suites.
Architecture: Lecoc Arquitectura.
Photography: Mariela Apollonio.
Source: Lecoc Arquitectura.

Lecoc Arquitectura

Lecoc Arquitectura is an international architecture studio based in Valencia, founded and led by architects Alicia Medrano García and Fernando Pedrosa López. Both trained as architects at the Universitat Politècnica de València and, from the outset, have shared an understanding of architecture as an exercise in cultural, environmental, and social responsibility.

The professional trajectory of Medrano and Pedrosa has developed between architectural practice and the management of complex projects, combining design with a strategic vision of territory, sustainability, and the long-term impact of architecture. This dual perspective—technical and sensitive, economic and spatial—is reflected in the studio’s work, particularly in projects related to housing, renovation, and spaces for care.

At Lecoc Arquitectura, they promote a rigorous and open practice in which design is conceived as a tool to create spaces that are coherent with their context and with those who inhabit them. Their architecture is grounded in precision, control of proportion, and attention to detail, seeking to generate balanced atmospheres where light, materials, and scale work together in harmony.

The studio develops projects in both the public and private spheres, with a constant interest in sustainability understood in a broad sense: environmental, economic, and social. Each commission is approached as a process of dialogue, involving clients, collaborators, and specialists from the earliest stages, and avoiding standardized solutions or imposed gestures.

With an international practice, Lecoc Arquitectura works across different cultural contexts, adapting to each place through respect for its identity and memory. Its multidisciplinary team, supported by various international recognitions, ensures a high level of rigor in every project, understanding architecture as an attentive, precise service committed to people.

Project by Lecoc Arquitectura