Green Roofs & Walls
Green roofs and walls can cool buildings and create habitat for insects. Orchard of Flavours near Tavira and Keela Permaculture Farm show how planted surfaces can work in Portuguese conditions.
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Green roofs and walls in Portugal
A planted roof does three things at once in this climate: it keeps the room below several degrees cooler, it holds part of the rain that would otherwise run straight off, and it gives insects somewhere to be in a landscape that is often bare by July. The catch is water in the dry months.
Oásis Biosistema designs and builds living systems from Lisbon. Orchard of Flavours grows on structures at its botanical garden near Tavira. Keela Permaculture Farm builds them into an off-grid homestead in the Fundão hills, and Quinta Lamosa uses them on tree houses in Arcos de Valdevez.
Species choice decides everything here, Mediterranean, drought-tolerant, and no irrigation you cannot maintain. Related focuses: eco-building techniques, rainwater harvesting and natural materials. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.