City Cortex
, 2024
Curator and artistic director of the programme City Cortex for Corticeira Amorim
City Cortex was a programme that investigated the intersection between contemporary urban contexts and one of the most versatile and sustainable materials that nature has to offer: cork. Recognising the urban city as a living and dynamic organism, the programme examined the defining challenges of the 21st century, in which themes such as mobility, security, comfort, preservation, sustainability, and natural resource management were essential considerations.
The chosen city to host this research programme was Greater Lisbon—specifically the Belém and Trafaria areas—and the invited design studios included Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Gabriel Calatrava, Leong Leong, Eduardo Souto Moura, Yves Béhar, and Sagmeister & Walsh.
With contributions from internationally renowned architects and designers, City Cortex envisioned the inception of original projects for public and semi-public spaces in Lisbon through the development of in situ research methods on the potential of Portuguese cork and its respective transformation industry.
Primarily, City Cortex focused on:
- Expanding the use of this extraordinary, natural, and sustainable material in urban contexts;
- Opening pathways to greater awareness of sustainability and the development of contemporary urban landscapes;
- Inspiring innovative thinking, marked by ideas and intersections that offered positive and useful contributions to life as a community, both within itself and in relation to nature.
The programme also dedicated itself to the idea of urban space as a playground for multicultural and multidisciplinary use.
City Cortex was produced by Corticeira Amorim, with production support from Artworks.
Curated by Guta Moura Guedes and developed by experimentadesign, the eight original projects of this programme were presented to the public in June 2024 in Lisbon and Trafaria, remaining available for public enjoyment until the end of November 2024.
A complementary book about the projects was published and will be launched in 2025.
