Sustainable Living

Eco-building Techniques

Builders and teachers working with earth, straw, lime and timber across Portugal. Learn the techniques at a workshop or hire the people who master them.

21 Projects

Projects in this focus

Eco-building techniques in Portugal

Earth, straw, lime and timber are not new here, most old Portuguese village houses are some combination of stone, earth mortar and lime render. What is new is doing it deliberately, to modern standards, and getting it signed off.

The builders and teachers listed under this focus work in those materials across the country, and some teach as well as build. That matters, because the constraint on natural building in Portugal is rarely the material and usually the availability of someone who knows how to use it.

Workshops are the normal entry point, and several run over a weekend. The natural materials, superadobe and cob, and renovation and retrofitting focuses cover the specific methods. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.