Residual Studio
Residual Studio is a Lisbon-based architecture, design and research atelier focused exclusively on sustainability and circular economy, crea…
Construction & Housing
Building with the land instead of against it: hemp blocks from Cânhamor, modular bio-construction kits from Green Heritage, and techniques from cob to superadobe. Builders proving that healthy, low-carbon homes are possible in Portugal today.
Projects in this theme
Pinho&Palha
Pinho&Palha is a sustainability-oriented project based in Sarilhos Grandes, Portugal.
Ananda Earth Atelier
Ananda Earth Atelier is a creative and educational initiative founded by architect Katharina, offering online mentoring programmes and in-pe…
Terrapalha
Terrapalha is a natural building architecture studio founded in 2008 by architect Catarina Pinto, based in Sintra and the Alentejo coast, sp…
Natural building and low-impact housing in Portugal
Building in Portugal means building for heat, for drought, and increasingly for fire. The techniques collected here answer that with mass, shade and materials that come from close by rather than from a container ship: earth, lime, cork, stone, straw and hemp.
Cânhamor produces hemp blocks in Portugal. Green Heritage supplies modular bio-construction kits. Around them sit builders working in cob, adobe and superadobe, and owners retrofitting old stone houses rather than replacing them, often the lowest-carbon option available, because the building already exists.
The focus filter above splits the collection into eco-building techniques, natural materials, hemp construction, superadobe and cob, renovation and retrofitting, circular building practices, passive solar design, earthships, green roofs and walls, and tiny homes. If you build this way in Portugal, we would like to list you. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.