ROUTE
FORMA DA VIZINHANÇA
ARCHITECTURE AND ART FESTIVAL
ARCHITECTURE AND ART FESTIVAL
PEQUENOS PARAÍSOS
[SMALL PARADISES]
> A RECOLETORA
> PARRETAS
21 SEPTEMBER
10h30 to 12h30
ETHNOBOTANICAL WALK WITH FERNANDA BOTELHO
> FREE [ REGISTRATIONS HERE]
21H00
SHORT-FILM SCREENING PEQUENOS PARAÍSOS
> PARRETAS’ STAIRCASE
> FREE / GENERAL PUBLIC
21 SEPTEMBER
10h30 to 12h30
ETHNOBOTANICAL WALK WITH FERNANDA BOTELHO
> FREE [ REGISTRATIONS HERE]
21H00
SHORT-FILM SCREENING PEQUENOS PARAÍSOS
> PARRETAS’ STAIRCASE
> FREE / GENERAL PUBLIC
As the building rises in height, it distances us from the ground and from contact with the vegetal environment. Pequenos Paraísos is a project that investigates the balconies converted into gardens in the Parretas housing estate, as silent acts of resistance against the harshness of concrete and the homogenisation of urban space. The balcony, as a boundary-structure between the house (the private) and the street (the public), takes shape as a paradoxical place of safety and freedom, where one is simultaneously inside and outside.
Through the video format, the project analyses the dynamics of care between residents and their plants, questioning how the practice of cultivation (of flowers, shrubs, cacti or aromatics) reconfigures standardised areas into meaningful spaces of personal expression. This transformation reveals not only instinctive needs for connection to nature — related to the various meanings evoked by the colour green: shelter, nourishment, well-being, survival — but also individual strategies of adaptation to the contemporary urban context.
Pequenos Paraísos will be presented to the community on 21 September in the form of a short film, to be screened at night on the SALA DE CONDOMÍNIO installation, designed by the architect Nuno Melo Sousa, making use of the staircase as an open-air amphitheatre.
On the same day, in the morning, A RECOLETORA invites herbalist Fernanda Botelho to lead an ethnobotanical walk through the public gardens of the Parretas housing estate, along a route defined by the garden-balconies but focused on the ground of the shared space, where “weeds”, ornamental plants and large trees coexist.
In this class-in-motion, we will introduce the plant neighbourhood that inhabits Parretas, share their scientific and popular names, their culinary and therapeutic uses, uncover stories related to them, and highlight their importance in maintaining biodiversity. Registrations HERE.
Through the video format, the project analyses the dynamics of care between residents and their plants, questioning how the practice of cultivation (of flowers, shrubs, cacti or aromatics) reconfigures standardised areas into meaningful spaces of personal expression. This transformation reveals not only instinctive needs for connection to nature — related to the various meanings evoked by the colour green: shelter, nourishment, well-being, survival — but also individual strategies of adaptation to the contemporary urban context.
Pequenos Paraísos will be presented to the community on 21 September in the form of a short film, to be screened at night on the SALA DE CONDOMÍNIO installation, designed by the architect Nuno Melo Sousa, making use of the staircase as an open-air amphitheatre.
On the same day, in the morning, A RECOLETORA invites herbalist Fernanda Botelho to lead an ethnobotanical walk through the public gardens of the Parretas housing estate, along a route defined by the garden-balconies but focused on the ground of the shared space, where “weeds”, ornamental plants and large trees coexist.
In this class-in-motion, we will introduce the plant neighbourhood that inhabits Parretas, share their scientific and popular names, their culinary and therapeutic uses, uncover stories related to them, and highlight their importance in maintaining biodiversity. Registrations HERE.
This activation will take place at Alameda da Fonte and Parretas’ staircase, where Nuno Melo Sousa’s installation is located.
General public
General public
A RECOLETORA
A Recoletora is the artistic and pedagogical practice of visual artist Alexandre Delmar and designer Maria Ruivo, dedicated to the study of spaces of reciprocity and interaction between human and plant communities. In their work, the duo combines ongoing research, inventory, and mapping of spontaneous edible and medicinal plants with the recovery of ancestral and contemporary knowledge, within a didactic approach that invites a rediscovery of the city through foraging and wandering across the territories of urban wastelands. They explore themes related to food autonomy, foraging, herbalism, know-how, landscape, memory, ethnobotany, and ecological literacy, promoting collaborative actions such as cartographies, guided walks, workshops, meals, conversations, edible installations, exhibitions, and publications.
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