Experiment Land Stage aims to join students, architects, citizens, technicians, entrepreneurs, and politicians to create and test new solutions to use natural resources to build and design better objects and spaces for living, increasing the quality of life of Portuguese and Norwegian communities. The cooperation actions between partners Rintala Eggertsson Architects from Norway and MAG – Marques de Aguiar Arquitectura e Urbanismo and Camilo Rebelo Associados from Portugal will spread the use of cork and wood, natural resources from each country, and will boost reaching sustainable solutions for the climate change challenges.

For one year this bilateral initiative will innovate through the approach of a collaborative model experimenting ideas, and through the expected results related with the technical solutions of cork and wood uses and design. The solutions tested are communicated through prototypes, developed during the workshops, and the method to engage and increase the network of participants will be disseminated in the Experiment Land Stage toolkit.

The first temporary equipment of
Museu Experimenta Paisagem

In September 2023, 25 architecture students built a shelter with 36m2 using 296 pieces of national Pinus pinaster, each measuring just 1.5m in length, proving that it is possible to build big structures with a relatively smaller size of lumber.

MEP's TOOLKIT

DOWNLOADS

Toolkit EN
Toolkit NO
Toolkit PT

Technical drawings y Arch. Pedro Gama

Documentary

"Dos Lugares com as Pessoas" is a short documentary that explores the interior pine forest through the perspective of the people who inhabit it and who once thrived in the region, living off what the forest provided them. Through interviews with the residents of Mação (Portugal), the story of this resource-rich forest unfolds, from resin to cork. How can we revitalize this forest and make it prosperous again? This was the inspiration behind the Cortiçada Art Fest - EEA Grants Wood Edition, which, through a practical case, demonstrated the possibility of constructing significant structures using Mação's national pine.

Workshops at ESAD, FAUP, ISCTE, Universidade Sénior de Mação, ITM (PT) and NTNU (NO)

Cortiçada Art Fest -
EEA Grants Wood Edition

The 2nd edition of the Cortiçada Art Fest (2023) took place in Mação between September 28th and October 1st, featuring self-construction workshops, discussions, and lots of outdoor celebration in nature!