Architectural vision comes alive.

Located in Portugal’s eastern Algarve, Corte Velho is a premium residential development which will contain a 32-acre urban area including a hotel, condominiums, a spa and golf course, as well as homes of bespoke design. Corte Velho will be marketed in advance to investors, so Grain’s challenge was to create an ‘investors’ book’ that brings the project to life before construction.

BRIEF
Our client, James Gorst Architects, was coordinating the development. Besides needing a brand logo for Corte Velho, they commissioned Grain to develop the investors’ book for marketing the properties ‘off-the-page’. The book would demonstrate the individual, environmentally-harmonious design of each property and evoke the unspoilt 135-acre rural location.

APPROACH
Grain started by drawing a hand-crafted signature as Corte Velho’s logo. We then designed and supervised production of the 64-page investors’ book; worthy of an aspirational destination, it is presented in a stone colour cloth-covered case. The book is in landscape format and features location photography of the Corte Velho landscape, with selected architectural perspectives and plans for the residential sites. The illustrations show how the architectural character of the development blends the clarity of modernism, with textural highlights from traditional materials. There are also illustrated profiles of the architects involved, from among whom investors will choose to design their property.

RESULT
The Corte Velho identity and the investors’ book design makes visible to clients the urbanistic values of this six-star resort and the ideals that shape it: architectural excellence, environmental harmony and residential choice. Though delayed by the recession, the Corte Velho development promises to be a significant contributor to the regional economy of the Eastern Algarve.

FEEDBACK
“I enjoyed working with you on the graphics for the Corte Velho project in Portugal. I was impressed with the way that you handled the brief and the finished work looked stunning.”
Nicholas Crawley, Developer