From Sky to Table: A greenhouse for urban food culture in Lisbon

Set within the Aquilino Ribeiro Machado Horticultural Garden in Lisbon, From Sky to Table rethinks urban agriculture as both public infrastructure and social catalyst. Developed through Lisbon’s Bip-Zip programme, the project transforms a fragmented area between the neighborhoods of Murtas and S. João de Brito/Pote d’Água into a shared landscape for cultivation, learning, and community life.

Conceived as part greenhouse, part civic space, the intervention extends the city’s central green corridor while proposing a more direct relationship between people and food production. Permaculture principles shape the project’s spatial organization, where growing, gathering, and environmental education unfold within an open and accessible public setting.

The project is anchored by a vaulted greenhouse that rises from a clearing along the park’s cycling paths. Its lightweight metal structure houses four vertical farming systems, creating a luminous interior where cultivation becomes visible from the surrounding landscape. The translucent skin filters daylight while revealing layers of greenery inside, turning food production into a public spectacle rather than a hidden process.

Outside, a circular forum frames the entrance, creating a space for workshops, planting activities, and neighborhood gatherings. Around it, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and an organic lake establish a productive ecosystem woven into the existing vegetation of cork oaks, eucalyptus, and almond trees.

More than an agricultural facility, From Sky to Table proposes a slower and more collective urban rhythm. Composting stations, shelters, and educational gardens complete a cycle that encourages participation while reducing the distance between consumption and cultivation.

By integrating food production into everyday public life, the project outlines a model for healthier and more self-sufficient neighborhoods. Architecture here becomes less an isolated object than a framework for shared practices, where sustainability is experienced through daily use, social interaction, and the changing seasons of the garden.

Project Credit

Project Name: From Sky to Table
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Design Firm: Parto / @parto.atelier
Project Year: 2025
Photo: Eleana Kitsiou, Francisco Ascensão / @francisco.ascensao