DOZE GALOS
A Rural Residency
on the West Coast of Portugal.
Vision
We hope to rehabilitate an entire ecosystem.
Apple orchards, cork forests, and open pastures unite two sides of a bucolic valley.
We are reconstructing a compound of agricultural buildings overlooking the west coast of Portugal.
Private suites, music studios, and the communal kitchen will be surrounded by living environments, gardens, and shelters which will be maintained in accordance with organic principles.
Process
Our hard work is beginning to bear fruit.
We now have a spacious common area, a terra cotta patio, a marble bathroom, and accomodations for hosting up to six guests.
As we reimagine the existing spaces, new areas of focus come to life as artistic and musical laboratories complimented by greenhouses, gardens, a courtyard, and amphitheater.
Culinary facilities will be dedicated to fermenting, preserving and conserving our garden production: apples, pears, quince, olives, citrus, edible flowers, nuts, stone fruits, berries, grapes, figs and cacti.
Landscape
We take stewardship seriously.
By creating a series of terraces and swales, we hope to return the conventional orchards of this valley into a diverse ecosystem.
Harvesting seasonal rains into natural reservoirs creates microclimates that will benefit endemic flora and fauna alike.
This will promote essential biodiversity in a region challenged by decades of intensive monoculture farming.
Our approach combines sustainability and productivity, while strengthening the roots of our local community.
Creativity
We envision a residency which cultivates creativity in many forms.
Inspired by the Danish ‘folk high school’ tradition, our project is a learning experiment, a living sculpture, and a celebration of the human spirit.
By giving space and value to the domestic arts we hope to create a hothouse for interdisciplinary and post-artistic practices.
This includes baking, beekeeping, carpentry, fermentation, gardening, husbandry, stonework, tailoring, and weaving, and many other art forms.
We also consider proposals for projects in development; screenwriting, poetry, and fiction, as well as musical composing, recording, or performance.
Our project is co-produced with the help of interns from the Organic Farming University of Kalø, and gastronomy students from the Suhrs Højskole in Copenhagen.