Tourist Accomodations made from ‘Taipa’

By: Nancebee on 14 August 2008 
Category: Eco-Investments, Eco-Tourism

• Português

In our search for Portugal’s hidden treasures, 3EcoBees found one of the pearls: a tourist accommodation site made by applying the ‘taipa technique’. It is a way of building houses in a typical Portuguese way, using mainly local and natural resources. In the Santo Estevão area (Algarve), 3EcoBees visited this ‘taipa’ construction and was delighted by the whole concept of this initiative.

Taipa
Taipa is a technique used in the building of walls using the raw materials of mud, chalk, lime and gravel and has been used in the architecture of many cultures throughout the world. Because of the nature of the materials used, it is incombustible, thermally insulating and very strong and hardwearing. It also has the added advantage of being a very low cost and simple way to construct walls (source: Wikipedia).

To protect the walls, they will be covered with a waterproof layer of sand and lime. The technique used for this project, originates from the Alentejo region and was commonly used until the 1950’s. The unique method has been re-introduced and promoted by some municipalities, such as Odemira. Even special ‘Taipa-building’ workshops are organized. As the Algarve is known for its (minor) seismic activity, the units had to be built on a base of concrete and supported ‘conventionally’ by constructed pillars.

Going Green
As most building materials are extracted from the area itself, little transport is necessary to supply the materials and equipment. Due to the good insulation qualities of the material, less energy is required to maintain a pleasant and constant climate within the units.

Besides this ‘greener’ way of building the apartments, other measures are in place to turn the whole concept sustainable. Solar panels will generate sufficient power for the accommodation; an organic garden with a variety of fruits and vegetables will provide healthy and responsible food ingredients. Some rooftops will be covered by gardens; others will be covered with re-used tiles. And rather than building a common swimming pool, a biological pool will be constructed. Even the in-house furniture will consist of recycled materials and pieces. With respect to the water issue, a special Wastewater Garden will be constructed. This concept, where waste water is collected in a sealed tank and then flows to a special designed wetland where it is treated by gravel and special plants, has been originally designed by the Biosphere Foundation. The cleaned water can be used for irrigation and non-drinking applications.

3EcoBees were impressed by this project and of course we will continue to follow the progress of this unique development, which foresees its opening in June 2009. It is a good showcase of how more sustainable holidays can be developed, promoted and experienced.