Eco||Sistema – Construções em Madeira
Eco||Sistema is a wood-frame construction company in Valença, Portugal, working with FSC-certified timber and natural materials since 2005. …
Renovation & Retrofitting
Breathing new life into what already stands: the schist-village revival of Cerdeira in the Serra da Lousã, cork insulation from Amorim, and bio-architecture studios like Terrapalha. Renovation as the lowest-carbon way to build.
Projects in this focus
Associação Passivhaus Portugal
Associação Passivhaus Portugal (PHPT) is a non-profit association based in Ílhavo that promotes the Passive House building standard in Portu…
BUILT CoLAB
BUILT CoLAB is a collaborative research laboratory in Porto focused on the digital and ecological transition of the construction sector. It …
Tiny Living Club
Tiny Living Club offers tiny houses, container homes and land plots for sale or rent near a lake in Tábua, Portugal, alongside a community p…
Obras de Terra
Obras de Terra is a one-person consultancy in Portugal specialising in natural building, building pathology diagnosis and geoenvironmental h…
Residual Studio
Residual Studio is a Lisbon-based architecture, design and research atelier focused exclusively on sustainability and circular economy, crea…
Christian Neuner Architecture
An architecture studio in Lagos, Portugal, designing ecological, bioclimatic and health-conscious buildings for private and commercial clien…
Studio Detelic
Architecture studio in Lagos, Algarve, founded in 1996, specialising in residential, hotel, cultural and commercial projects, with quality, …
Arcaya
A residential village planned for 70 hectares of protected forest in Vilamoura's Golden Triangle, Algarve, with luxury villas and apartments…
Aresta Engenharia
Aresta Engenharia is a Portuguese engineering and construction company specialising in bio-construction, urban rehabilitation and sustainabl…
Terrapalha
Terrapalha is a natural building architecture studio founded in 2008 by architect Catarina Pinto. Based in Sintra and on the Alentejo coast,…
Amorim Cork Insulation
Amorim Cork Insulation, part of the Corticeira Amorim group, makes natural cork-based insulation products for sustainable construction. Its …
Renovation and retrofitting in Portugal
The greenest house in Portugal is usually one that is already standing. The interior is full of stone and schist buildings that were left empty when the village emptied, and bringing one back costs a fraction of the carbon of a new build, though rarely a fraction of the patience.
Cerdeira brought a whole schist village in the Serra da Lousã back into use. Terrapalha renovates with natural materials out of Sintra, Aresta Engenharia works on bio-construction and urban rehabilitation from Chaves, and Amorim supplies the cork insulation that solves most of the thermal problem in these walls.
Expect damp, no insulation and a roof decision in year one. See also natural materials, eco-building techniques and energy efficiency. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.