Frame Colectivo

Frame Colectivo is a Lisbon-based architecture firm that explores the realms of architecture, urbanism, and art in transdisciplinary collaborations. Since 2013 we have dedicated our research to public and semi-public open spaces, implementing contextualized collective projects. We design interventions that question dominant urban micro-politics and promote citizens' participation. We collaborate with artists regularly to develop new methodologies of horizontal communication in architecture.
Artistic directors:
Agapi Dimitriadou
Gabriela Salazar

Team:
Carolina Miguel Barreiros
Ana Sophie Salazar
Daniel Asproiu


Past collaborators:
Adrián Fernandez
Adriana Ferreira Gil
Alva Moca
André Cid
Anna de Giorgi
Annie Churdar
Ara Orozco
Beatriz Rinaldi
Camilla Van Baarsel
Caroline Rivollet
Catarina Toipa
Chucho Nieto
Cristina Peixoto
Inês Coimbra
João Brito
Kaylee Brent
Lavinia Patrascu
Maddalena Pornaro
Manon Lévêque
Margherita Tezza
Maria Berze
Matias Romano
Rita Menichini
Rui Sampaio
Sara Coutinho
Sara Palácios
Sara Vieira
Sofia Sousa
Tudor Ciuculescu
Valentina Comuzzi

Proximity

We organize extended workshops during which our team works and lives near the intervention sites, following the logic of the artist residency. Through this continuous presence, we aim to establish a close communication channel with the population. An old-time fire truck, our support platform, provides the initial meeting point to generate a constructive exchange of ideas.

Understanding the Territory

We develop participatory methods of mapping and reading territories. The approaches steming from architecture and urban planning have rigorous technical results, which we expand with various methods originating from visual anthropology, based on interviews, walks, and video and audio documentation. In this way, we obtain a comprehensive understanding of the social complexity of the territory.

Collective Building

We apply collective building processes to create new spaces. We strongly believe that sharing knowledge and skills between all collaborators enriches the work, creates inspiring results, and stimulates alternative narratives for the urban territories at stake.

Frame Colectivo Timeline

August
2020

Grant from the Portuguese Ministry of Culture

Support for research and development of the SWAY prototype, as part of the Ministry of Culture's support line for the arts.
January

Participation at Quinzena'20: um ciclo de conversas do Instituto

24 Janeiro 2020, no O Instituto (Porto). Foi um prazer enorme conhecer e participar na Quinzena '20 no Instituto, um novo espaço de partilha, tão necessária, que acolhe uma programação centrada no "debate sobre arquitectura, arte, design, cultura urbana e práticas espaciais com ênfase em problemáticas de índole social e política". Um encontro promovido pelo O Instituto, organizado por Paulo Moreira, em conversa com Eduardo Conceição e o atelier Space Transcribers.
January

Hashtag debate [TASCAS]: Photography and writing in the collective deconstruction of human gentrification

15 January 2020, at EAUM - Escola de Arquitetura da Universidade do Minho
Debate aberto sobre Tascas e como estes lugares estão a reagir à actual gentrificação nas cidades. Moderação de Pedro Bandeira, com participação de Eduardo Brito e Álvaro Domingues
November
2019

Launch of [TASCAS]

29 Novembro 2020, na STET e Appleton Box. Lançamos o resultado do projecto [TASCAS] em formato de livro, jogo e plataforma online!
 
April

What will Remain? Globalication as crisis and opportunity

4 Abril 2019, at Wozen Studio
December
2018

Direito à Cidade

December 6th 2018, at CUBO building, FA-UL
October

Experimentation & Dissidence - 4th Workshop - Philosophy and the Arts

October 11th 2018, at CCB - Colecção Berardo
March

Perspectivas Feministas sobre as Práticas Espaciais

Festival Feminista de Lisboa. March 24th 2018 at BUS - Paragem Cultural
March

with students from the Masters in Curating Contemporary Art (Royal College of Art). March 22th 2018, in downtown Lisbon
 
 
January

Open conversation about the Detail Plan for Ginjal

We took part in an open meeting about the Detail Plan for Ginjal. This conversation, organized by some dwellers, aimed to deepen the debate over the available materials in Câmara Municipal de Almada website about the Plan. More than 30 people got together in Centro de Cultura Libertária, in Cacilhas. In the end, some doubts about the project were collected in order to present a document to the city hall.


 
October
2017

Arquitectas: Modo(s) de (R)existir

October 18th 2017, at Jardim de Inverno do São Luiz
June

Projectar a cidade com a comunidade

Short films. June 8th 2017, at Casa dos Amigos do Minho
Julho

Laboratório de Arquitectura do Instituto 7

Opening Session,. July 3rd 2017, at Arsenal do Alfeite
May

Azzelij - Workshop "Azulejos Translúcidos"

May 27th 2017, at largo Mouzinho de Albuquerque, Ovar
February

Pecha Kucha Night Lisbon

We presented our work in a Pecha Kucha night in Lusitano Clube in Alfama. It was an opportunity to get to know other projects that take place in Lisbon. Check out the complete presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKkv8N9SbgE&t=303s
 
December
2016

We explored the copy-paste phenomena considering the blue windows as a mark point of these processes in different villages. The blue glass windows are frequently used elements in houses of some Andean countries in South America. These elements raise issues as the materials symbolic integration, and the development of a new aesthetic language, frequently alienated from climatic and urbanistic local needs. We went for a googleride through Ecuador’s blue route…

October

Talks Critical Cities

Talk CXXXII. October 5th 2016, at Pólo Cultural Gaivotas
 
October

Atalaia Artes Performativas | Open Sap Lab

Meeting with SAP Lab and artists-in-residence. October 1st-2nd 2016, at Campo de Ourique
June

Arte e Política Reloaded? O Direito à Cidade

International Meeting with activists, artists and scholars. June 5th-8th 2016, at differents sites
January

Frame Lab

Furniture for public or private spaces, exhibition structures, performance settings... We now have the perfect space for them to be thought out, developed, experimented, and built–Frame Lab is finally open for all the new carpentry work we are eager to do!
December
2015

TODOS Festival

A poetical and playful transformation of a public garden into a living room. It was such a pleasure to have an open carpentry workshop in the middle of Campo Santana, building furniture for an open-air living room and having our structures being immediately used by visitors. A great thanks to the Festival TODOS team and all the people who collaborated!
 
February

Performapping in Penha

In February 2015, we finally found the perfect space for our office: The Espaço da Penha, an old garage turned into a co-working space, hosting the Rumo do Fumo, Forum Dança, and other cultural associations. After organizing participatory interventions in public spaces of our new neighborhood, we invited old and new friends to the interactive exhibition “Performapping” to celebrate the space we inhabit and further our awareness of its daily life.
July
2014

Patio Under Construction

Some urban spaces possess a special attraction for us. From the very beginning, the Pátio Dom Fradique was one of these magnetic places. During Summer 2014, we proudly co-curated a cultural program including street theater, workshops, and open-air cinema. Such an incredibly magical place!
June

Trafaria Building Workshop

Our first collaboration with another building workshop in Portugal was a great experience. Organized by EDA and the local municipality, the whole team was fully engaged during the construction process of Trafaria’s new public library, and continues to fill it with life every day. We are proud to have been part of this amazing project since its inception!
November
2013

Pátio Ambulante wins Participatory Budget

And it happened! Our pilot-project Pátio Ambulante was one of the awarded by Lisbon’s Participatory Budget 2013. A huge thank you to all the people who collaborated, shared their art, enriched our events, and voted for us! The project will be funded until Spring 2017. Check it out!
 
March

Crisis Buster Grant by Lisbon Architecture Triennale

Addressing the European financial crisis, the 2013 Triennale invited to rethink the city of Lisbon through small-scale intervention strategies. We applied to a Crisis Buster Grant with the project Pátio Ambulante, focusing on the urban typology of the patio (courtyard), which has been losing its importance as meeting point. Reverting this development, we wished to explore the patio to its full potential as public gathering space. The grant by the Triennale enabled us to organize the first event at the Pátio of São João, transforming a closed private courtyard into an open square with a diverse four-day cultural program.
July
2012

Arminius Stand

Having been commissioned by Berlin’s City Hall to build an architectural model of the Arminius Markthalle, we were eager to seize the opportunity to create a catalog of ideas and opinions by the Moabit population. Since inviting residents to meetings often results in weak attendance, our first action was to actively participate in street markets instead. Equipped with the model and our newly developed mapping strategies, we interviewed the passersby. Our passion for participation in architecture pushed us into a journey of constantly improving and refining our processes, as well as designing new methods to put into practice.
 
February

Frame in Berlin

It all started in Moabit, Berlin. We focused on the Arminius Markthalle, a market from 1890, and worked from a small office inside the building researching participation methods for its revitalization. We learned so much from the flexibility and the endless possibilities offered by the structural cast iron frames of the market, that we integrated the concept as our guiding principle. Frame Colectivo was born!