In an era when the climate crisis has become a daily reality that redefines the way we live, build and create, design is evolving beyond aesthetics and functionality to become a powerful tool for environmental resilience.

‘Liquid Futures: Art, Design, Nature’ brings together voices from architecture, design and biomaterials research to explore how we can work in intimate dialogue with nature, especially in relation to our oceans and coastline.

This panel centres on the potential for transforming materials and waste from aquatic systems, such as alginate, shells and other marine and industrial by-products that are usually discarded, into sustainable building blocks for the future.

Set within the unique context of Lisbon – a city shaped by its relationship with the sea – we will reflect on how coastal resources and cultural traditions such as tile-making and the presence of the Tagus River can inform new design languages rooted in place, memory, and ecology.

As part of the ‘Bauhaus of the Seas Sails’, this talk invites audiences to reconsider material value and envisage regenerative futures for our cities and environments, affirming design as a discipline that can drive the creation of a more connected, sustainable and ocean-conscious world.

The event will take place in English, with simultaneous translation into Portuguese and interpretation into Portuguese Sign Language.