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Accommodation &
Campervan pitches

Accommodations at Lumina Verde: Your Cozy Home Away from Home at the LivingLab

When you come to us for a retreat or workshop, we don’t want you to just stay the night. We want you to arrive, take a deep breath, and find a true home in the heart of nature. That’s why the Lumina Verde grounds feature many small, unique accommodations—each with its own character.

You can sleep in our glass geodomes under the starry sky, enjoy the tranquility of one of our glamping tents or tiny houses, or experience the special sense of coziness in our smart adobe and hobbit houses. For those who bring their own home on four wheels, we’ve scattered our campervan sites generously and discreetly throughout the grounds. Also bookable via Park4Night. And with showers and restrooms for campers. They’re so wonderfully tucked away in the landscape that you’ll feel as though you’re completely undisturbed amid the wild beauty of the Alentejo.

Our accommodation types

Diverse, sustainable architecture in harmony with nature

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Tiny Houses

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Hobbithouses

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Camper pitches

Baumhaus_Treehouse_Algarve

Tree houses

Clay & lime buildings

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Yurt

Tradition meets sophisticated building physics: Completely self-sufficient and naturally cooled

We draw inspiration from the Alentejo’s distinctive architectural style and combine it with state-of-the-art eco-friendly construction techniques. Since summers here in the south can get very hot, instead of using energy-guzzling air conditioners, we simply harness the laws of physics: Through geothermal heat exchangers and smart ventilation systems, we draw fresh air through the cool soil before it flows into the rooms. This allows us to achieve pleasant, cool indoor temperatures—even in the height of summer—in a completely climate-neutral way.

In addition, we incorporate green roofs densely planted with succulents into many of our buildings. These low-maintenance plants not only look great, but they also act as water reservoirs and create their own unique little microcosm. The substrate and the plants cause moisture to evaporate, which significantly cools the roof in the summer and creates a noticeably pleasant microclimate.

Conserving resources, living independently: All accommodations are completely self-sufficient. Electricity comes from our own solar panels, drinking and utility water comes directly from our property, and wastewater is naturally filtered on-site in biological treatment plants and returned to the cycle.

A healthy life requires healthy spaces.
Anyone who steps into our accommodations will immediately notice that the indoor air is different. There are no off-gassing paints, no chemical solvents, and no artificial adhesives here. We build with what nature provides—and take advantage of the properties of these materials:

  • Clay and Straw Construction: Clay is an excellent heat store and an unbeatable humidity regulator. It cools in the summer and retains heat in the room in the winter, while straw provides the perfect, breathable insulation.
  • Wood: Of course, we can’t leave out the absolute classic among natural building materials. Wood brings a special sense of vitality and warmth to rooms, is naturally renewable, and creates a wonderfully calming, balanced indoor environment.
  • Hempcrete and natural lime: Hempcrete is one of the most exciting innovations in green building. It provides excellent insulation, is extremely lightweight, and has one key advantage: it doesn’t burn. When plastered with pure natural lime, it creates vapor-permeable walls whose alkaline surface gives mold absolutely no chance of growing.
  • Ultralight Concrete: At structurally critical points where we need high insulation values combined with low weight, we use resource-efficient ultralight concrete, which perfectly complements our ecological approach.
  • Cork, lightweight, and ultralightweight concrete: We are continuing to develop a combination of structurally sound concrete and recycled materials, incorporating the properties of locally sourced cork, to create a lightweight, insulating building structure suitable for structural applications.
  • Domestic cork: We use the Alentejo’s natural treasure for interior finishing, insulation, and even as sprayed cork for decorative purposes. Cork grows right here on our property. It insulates against heat and cold, absorbs sound for pleasant room acoustics, feels warm underfoot, and looks simply beautiful as a natural design element on walls or floors. Plus: Cork is one of the best insulating materials, with a thermal conductivity of 0.040–0.045 λ in W/(m·K), and it also provides good fire protection. All of this comes straight from nature, right on our doorstep.

Inspiration for Your Green Home: Experience, Learn, Put It into Practice

Lumina Verde is not only a retreat but also a showcase for sustainable building. Our accommodations are inspiring examples—like a walk-in showroom. Here, you can not only see alternative architecture but also experience it firsthand: What does a mud-brick house smell like? What does a room lined with cork sound like? How does passive cooling feel on a 35-degree day—all without the noise of an air conditioner?

For us, building with natural materials is the logical response to steadily rising real estate and material prices. Earth, wood, straw, and hemp are extremely cost-effective compared to conventional materials, are often available locally, and free us from dependence on global supply chains. Sustainable, healthy, and self-sufficient living is not an unaffordable luxury, but something that’s entirely achievable—and we’d like to share this knowledge with you so you can bring your ideas and fresh perspectives to life in your own home.