The New European Bauhaus lighthouse project cluster meeting on 28 & 29 November in Lisbon

The two day meeting focused on the progress of NEB Lighthouse projects and legacy planning to ensure sustainable impacts and cross-community collaboration. The Bauhaus of the Seas Sails visits in Lisbon and Oeiras pilots highlighted the role of creative processes in driving territorial innovation, featuring pilot projects that integrate artistic, environmental, and community-led approaches for transforming the Tagus River region.

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) Cluster Meeting hosted by Bauhaus of the Seas Sails partners Interactive Technologies Institute, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon Municipality and Oeiras Municipality on 28-29 November 2024 in Lisbon, focused on the progress and future strategies of the NEB Lighthouse projects.

The event opened with a welcome by Juan Carlos Espada, European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) and an update on NEB policy developments by Solène Gautron, Joint Research Centre, highlighting the establishment of the NEB Facility as a multiannual financial support instrument for 2025-2027. This session emphasizes the NEB’s growth over the past three years and its integration as a cross-cutting policy issue, while also seeking feedback from the NEB Community to refine and enhance its initiatives.

Building on discussions from the 2024 NEB Cluster meeting, the six lighthouse projects Bauhaus of the Seas Sails, CrAFt, Desire, NEBourhoods, Eyes Hearts Hands, Cultuurcampus and NEB-Star  presented their long-term visions, full-scale plans, partnerships, and catalyzed investments. This collaborative approach aims to establish frameworks for impactful territorial change and assess project alignment with NEB goals.

In the afternoon, a roundtable discussion identified success factors for scaling project outcomes, attracting investments, engaging multi-level stakeholders, and navigating regulatory challenges. Additionally, communication strategies and joint actions for 2025 are discussed, emphasizing the importance of engaging audiences and promoting the NEB identity through engaging communication channels.

The session highlighted the role of these projects in transforming built environments and strengthening local communities through social, economic, and environmental advancements.

Juan Carlos Espada, CINEA welcoming the cluster meeting

Impacts of creative processes in NEB lighthouses – learning from BoS in Lisbon and Oeiras

Workshop participants visited the Marvila Library in Lisbon, where they learned about the co-creation and implementation of a community food lab that incorporates the processes of the creative residencies promoted by BoS, which is being led by “Food From the Block”, an initiative of LOCALS, a non-profit organization founded by architects and urbanists Gonçalo Folgado and João Martins that aims to promote local development actions based on participatory projects. During a dynamic dinner supervised by chef Carlos Matos and designed in collaboration with the “Lisbon Spice Rack” team, as well with members of the local community, the leaders of the creative residencies presented the interconnected goals and results of their research.

The “Lisbon Spice Rack” food residency project is led by Rain Wu (Taiwan/UK) in collaboration with Inês Neto dos Santos (Portugal) and Mariana Sanchez Salvador (Portugal), aims to create a regenerative menu that includes edible marine plants from the Tejo Estuary. This menu, developed at the Marvila Library Food Lab, is being co-designed in collaboration with students from the Luíza Neto Jorge elementary school and will be tested at the Gulbenkian CAM (Modern Art Centre) cafeteria.

The “À flor do azulejo, a cor do Tejo” project, led by Jeremy Morris (Switzerland) and Luca Carlisle (South Africa) of Collective Fahrenheit 180, proposes re-using oyster waste as a new substrate to reimagine the typical Portuguese tile. Developed at the Marvila Library Food Lab and Lisbon’s BioLab – a FabLab-like municipal infrastructure that has become a hub for the city’s (bio)maker community – this demonstrator pilot aims to inspire regenerative change within the local community and ecosystem by prototyping other research-based water material applications (oyster shells, lime slack, seaweed-agar, pink algae-pigment and salt- pigments, etc.) and scenarios in coastal urban environments.

In Oeiras, the “Underwater Ecotones” project at the Vasco da Gama Aquarium investigates aquatic soundscapes and the interaction between human and non-human life in the aquatic environment. Led by Francisca Rocha Gonçalves and a multidisciplinary team, the project reimagines the aquarium’s narrative and explores the potential of a future museum-aquarium. These efforts contribute to an intergenerational sea education strategy, emphasizing the role of creative and scientific collaboration in fostering ocean literacy and ecological awareness.

Presentation of the Bauhaus of the Seas Sails “A Call to the Sea” residency artists at the Marvila Library

The “Lisbon Spice Rack” regenerative menu project led by Rain Wu in collaboration with Inês Neto dos Santos and Mariana Sanchez Salvador

“À flor do azulejo, a cor do Tejo” project, led by Jeremy Morris and Luca Carlisle of Collective Fahrenheit 180.

Francisca Rocha Gonçalves and her multidisciplinary team reimagine the Vasco da Gama aquarium’s narrative and exploring the potential of a future museum-aquarium.

The two-day event closed on 29 November with a review of the NEB-01 evaluation status, timelines for future calls, and reflections on the next cluster meeting. Participants also discussed future collaboration opportunities, ensuring continued exchange among NEB Lighthouse projects after their official conclusion.

The meeting concluded with reflections on how the Lisbon and Oeiras pilots can inform broader NEB Lighthouse initiatives. Discussions underscored the transformative potential of integrating art, science, and design in reshaping Europe’s coastal and urban environments, emphasizing the need for collaboration and shared learning within the NEB community.

Panel discussion on the impacts of NEB creative processes and pilot resident artists at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

The NEB Community at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation