Reason of the travel:
- to find a place for a second STEP Training during winter time 2023 in Algarve (Castro Marim) – successful
- to help people building straw bale houses in Portugal
- to establish a building/restauration team (with alvara)
- to buy a plot of land for a first straw bale house project
- to look for places for an eco-community
Travel Austria-Germany-France-Spain-Portugal: Station – Biarritz, France
Travel: Station – Bilbao (Guggenheim Museum), Spain
Architect: Frank Gehry
Building Style: Deconstructivism, Modern Architecture, Expressionism
Architectural Offices: Frank Gehry, Gehry Partners, LLP
Station 2: Porto (AirBNB Skarf Boat)
Station 3: Cascais/Sintra (Area Lisbon): typical roof-tiles, first Meeting with Karsten Barth, Roger Peak (wants to build a small farm – Quinta, 100m2 on a 2-5ha land) and Catarina Pinto, Architect (Terrapalha), who wants to build a 3storey partly SB-house in Sintra (maybe just 1 storey in straw bale)
Mike’s Photos:
Station 4: South of Lisbon/Azeitao – Meeting with Sofia/Juan
Sofia and Juan (2 children, age 11/14) want to build a 6x10m straw bale community house with hip roof on pillars (60m2) in May/June and later a 150m2 SB private house on „ruins“
Station 5: South of Lisbon, coast area
Station 6: Karstens plot of land with ruins
Station 7: Tamera, Meeting with Christoph, photo: Wikipedia
Mike’s Photos Tamera:
Station 8: area near Spanish border, visit of land with ruin (house too small)
Station 9: Meeting with Rosa, her brother and architects Pedro Melo, Pedro Quintino Rogato in Quinta da Fornalha, São Bartolomeu do Sul, Castro Marim (Link), 3,6km from the coast/beach in Castro Marim, Algarve
Possibility to offer STEP Trainings Jan-March 2023 and following years, 10 rooms with bathroom, each with 3 beds, kitchen
Station 10: Beach in Castro Marim (3,6km from Quinta de Fornalha)
Station 11: Area Odeleite (Rosa’s recommendation for land with ruins), but too shady for winter
Station 12: Beach in Cabanes de Tavira (looking for land and most beautiful coast)
Station 13: Foz de Odeleite – looking for land to build an eco-community
Land with direct access to river Guadiana (house boat, sailing boat)
Station 14: Botelhas, Castro Marim, ca. 10km from coast, 6km from Rosa (looking for land for eco-community)
Location-Link
(possible building area: 2000m2)
(possible building area: 440m2)
Location-Link
hilly, more photos: Mischa
Location-Link
Photos see gallery below,
contact: Peter
Station 15: Algarve South Coast – Albufeira – Lagos – Sagres
MD
Lagos, Algarve, South coast
Station 16: Carrepateira, west coast
Station 17: Obidos, Casa 40th – Music Wood House (AirBNB)
Station 18: Area Castello Blanco, Castello Novo, province Fundao, Meeting with Barbara Leite (association Mountain of Oaks), Martin & Sabrina (straw bale house owners, biologist and architect), Carry (straw bale house self builder)
Castello Novo 
Mountain of Oaks 
Martin & Sabrina 
Carry’s house 
Different opinions/experiences with building permission:
ruins: rebuild original walls, additions possible (Pedro Quintino Rogato);
easier, if support from local authorities like Philomena in Castro Marim (Pedro Melo);
more than 5ha inland: building possibility (Rosa);
more than 10ha near coast (10km?): building possibilty (Rosa);
long, slow process up to 3years from buying ground (Pedro Quintino Rogato), 1,5 years (Catarina);
bad experiences with architects and structural engineers („slow process, they don’t even know the law, especially about Euro-Codes“), fast process with „solicitadors“ (experts of law) – just 1 week to get a permission (Martin & Sabrina);
good experiences with smaller wood-/straw bale structures (tiny houses) without concrete foundations – seem to be easy accepted without building permission (Barbara Leite).
Different opinions/experiences with alvará de construção/building licence:
register as wood-worker (or straw baler) without alvará de construção (Christoph) – could be possible for own buildings, restaurations, tiny houses, maybe also panel-montage („non-relevant works can be undertaken by the contractor if it holds a simple registration certificate issued electronically by IMPIC, IP, which is also valid for an unlimited time period“)
alvará de construção from local building companies (nearly in each village)
alvará de construção from carpenter in own team (association)
More about Building Law in Portugal and the legal framework in Portugal: LINK
Building Land, Plots, places with ruins:
Houses offered on olx.pt (private): https://www.olx.pt/imoveis/casas-moradias-para-arrendar-vender/
Idealista Portugal (region Castro Marim): https://www.idealista.pt/en/comprar-terrenos/castro-marim/
Green Acres (Algarve), plots for sale: https://www.green-acres.pt/en/prog_show_properties.html?searchQuery=mx_p-250000-lg-en-cn-pt-hab_building-on-hab_house-on-hab_land-on-city_id-rg_faro-expo_south-on
Foral Quinta da Larga Vista (Ecosystem Renovation camp members in Algarve): Google Maps
Carpenters in/for projects in Portugal:
Andreas Strunk (DE), + 49 160 96 44 49 64 (has build the Aula in Tamera and others in Portugal)
Thomas Offermanns (PT) +351938522852 (carpenter in PT, who also makes windows)
Josef Podmolík podmolik.josef@gmail.com intern at asbn in 2022, carpenter, who could get a licence
Achim (friend of Emil): carpenter without licence, who could maybe also work with us
Building Materials:
Straw Bales in area Beja: https://www.olx.pt/beja/q-palha/
Quinta da Madeira: quintadamadeira.com (construction wood)
Laura Osterminder (next to Quinta da Madeira): products from Kreidezeit, father makes ovens and wooden windows
More links:
Catarina Pinto, Terrapalha: https://terrapalha.com/?lang=en
Association Compalha: http://www.compalha.pt/
Dissertation/Master Thesis Straw Bale Building in Portugal, Pedro Lopes: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jqa-jBBcFlfJUxPKpgtbJswoVQS42vDT/view
Quinta de Fornalha: http://www.quinta-da-fornalha.com/index.php?lg=03
Pure Portugal (Facebook Group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/pureportugalgoodlife/
Centro da Terra, Odemira: https://centrodaterra.org/, Catarina Pereira 962665817
University of Algarve: https://www.ualg.pt/en
Mount of Oaks (Barbara Leite): https://mountofoaks.org/
Filomena Sintra, Municipality of Castro Marim: https://btn.pt/en/orador/filomena-sintra-en/
