Earthships

The earthship idea (a house that heats, powers and waters itself from its own site, built partly from tyres and glass nobody wanted) was designed for the high desert of New Mexico. Portugal has the sun and the dry months but also a wet Atlantic winter, so the model needs adapting rather than copying.

Mud Valley Institute experiments with regenerative building and education near Lagos. Arcadia Portugal works the same territory near São Bartolomeu de Messines, and Orgo brings the soil and water side of it from Castelo Branco.

The work here is experimental and honest about being so; licensing is usually the hardest part of the build. Related focuses: off-grid systems, superadobe and cob, and natural materials. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.