Buinho

FabLab and Creative Hub in rural environment

Rua Nova de São Brás 43, 7600-346 Messejana, Portugal

Fab Lab Makerspace Hackerspace Research Laboratory Residency

Space size 300 m²

Opened in December 2015

Structure type Non-profit association

Explored in February 2020

Buinho is a Creative Hub and the first rural Fablab in Portugal. Since 2015, creatives, makers, educators, and researchers unite in Messejana to experiment, prototype and learn. The aim of our association is to be an inspiring place, which fosters creativity, collaboration and innovation at the intersection of arts, technology and society. We offer various educative programs, private accommodation, different studios, and a creative residency program open for artists and makers from all over the world.

Contact

info@buinho.pt
+351 28 46 55 101
https://buinho.pt/
Member of Fab Labs world network, European Creative Hubs Network and VULCA

Social networks

Main interests

Technology - machines & tools Community Robotics Industry & innovation Hacking Education Electronics Design Photography Art & culture Recycling & upcycling Do-it-yourself Social Innovation Sustainability Digital fabrication Circular economy STEAM education Precious Plastic

The closest workshops nearby are:

MAKER RESIDENCY 2022 - BUINHO

⬇Precious Plastic Alentejo ⬇

Buinho is more than just a fablab. We offer a creative residency program open for makers from different disciplines and backgrounds. In 2018 we created the first Precious Plastic unit in Alentejo, to which we added a machine building workspace in 2019, and we planned to create an educational centre dedicated to DIY Plastic recycling. Precious Plastic Alentejo is a European Solidarity Corps project (2020-3-PT02-ESC11-007468), coordinated by Buinho Associação, that aims to support the development of the circular economy practices with local communities in Alentejo until February 2023.

👩🏻‍🔧 TYPE OF ACTIVITIES: developing creative workshops for different age-groups focused on the circular use of materials and products (e.g: biomaterials, plastic, repair initiatives)
⏳ PERIOD : 6 months (with holidays included / 2 days per month). Activities run from Tuesday to Saturday
🗓️ DATES : Flexible all year long
🚂 TRANSPORT : Travel support included (arrival and departure to the project according to the distance bands defined by the European Commission for the ESC program)
🏡 ACCOMMODATION : Included (free); individual rooms in a local house near the Fablab
🥗 FOOD : 150 EUR / month
💰 EXTRA FINANCIAL SUPPORT : 150€ pocket money support
👥 HOW MANY PLACES : 3 makers at the same time
⏰ APPLICATION DEADLINE : Flexible
❇️ SPECIFIC CRITERIA: Residency available for 18-30 years old makers only

The current volunteering project seeks to complement and expand the educational activities developed by a group of six individuals from Buinho, dedicated to sustainability, and social innovation. Besides our team mentorship and support, the volunteers will have access to all working spaces and equipments which include the Precious Plastic machines, the fablab, the school makerspace, and creative studios that we run in the historic town of Messejana.

We aim to develop activities that can connect social awareness (active citizenship) to creativity (design of new products or simply experimentation) and digital skills (digital manufacturing).

Start your Journey

(If the orange button doesn’t open well, please, just send us an email on residency@vulca.eu with :
- Object: MAKER RESIDENCY 2024 - Precious Plastic Alentejo
- Message : Short presentation of yourself + when you’re available for a video call)

List of equipment.pdf

Interview & guided tour

Meet someone from the team & discover the space by yourself!

Our workshop

Learn more about our space, members, machines & services!

WE REPAIR project is co-funded by ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union for a minimum of 2 years. (September 2021 - September 2023)

It’s a collaboration between a consortium of 3 Fablabs and Makerspace from 3 different European countries.

  • Buinho from Messejana in Portugal (leader)
  • Fablab Cuenca in Cuenca from Spain
  • Mountain Makers from Manzat in France

These 3 partners help each other to share experience, good practice and reinforce networks within Europe.

The central point of such a collaboration revolves around their regular “Repair’café”  where people gather to work on repairing objects of everyday life such as electrical and mechanical devices, computers, bicycles, clothing, and other. Also, these 3 partners are based in remote areas, which means, with the support of the ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union 12 mobility (4 each) will happen these 2 years to bring in these rural area support, skills and knowledge to support their local activities.

STORY - Fablab in a rural environment

In 2015 our team created Buinho Association and with it the first fablab in rural Portugal. It was a very disruptive approach, started by a team of designers, teachers and researchers from digital and creative fields. Today Buinho is a European reference for our residency program, as well as our educational and community related programs.

VISION - Arts, Technology & Society

Our vision is to be an inspiring place which fosters creativity, collaboration and innovation. We operate at the intersection of arts, technology and society. Our work focuses on emergent technologies as instruments of social change, resilience, and sustainability. We are guided by the values of fairness, openness and inclusion.

Artists, makers, designers, educators, researchers — individuals and teams — everybody is invited.

“Buinho is a work in progress — we are, together with our residents always improving the spaces and adapting them based on the overall vision and current needs.”

The team is composed by:

Carlos Alcobia Founder and General Manager
Sara Albino Founder and Research Coordinator
Alexia Figueiredo Education Coordinator
Duarte Filipe Educator
Fiona Hawes Educative Consultant
Inês Mourato Educator
Ivan Vuksanow Design and Strategy Consultant
Mónica Reis Administrative Support
Polina Kushnerevich UX and Visual Designer

Buinho is more than just a fablab. We offer private accommodation, working studios, Precious Plastic workspace and machine building, daily production support, all within a creative framework open for artists and makers from different disciplines.

To us it is very important that our programs and actions are interconnected with the local community and heritage.

Among other initiatives, we offer:

  • a weekly cultural program promoted together with members of the local community
  • opportunities for artists to engage with our educational programs which extend to other municipalities in the Alentejo Region
  • residents to have the possibility to organize an open studio event open to the general public

Buinho is the ideal place for those who want to adopt a more experimental attitude in their creative practice, offering a unique experience to its residents.

WE REPAIR project is co-funded by ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union for a minimum of 2 years. (September 2021 - September 2023)

It’s a collaboration between a consortium of 3 Fablabs and Makerspace from 3 different European countries.

  • Buinho from Messejana in Portugal (leader)
  • Fablab Cuenca in Cuenca from Spain
  • Mountain Makers from Manzat in France

These 3 partners help each other to share experience, good practice and reinforce networks within Europe.

The central point of such a collaboration revolves around their regular “Repair’café”  where people gather to work on repairing objects of everyday life such as electrical and mechanical devices, computers, bicycles, clothing, and other. Also, these 3 partners are based in remote areas, which means, with the support of the ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union 12 mobility (4 each) will happen these 2 years to bring in these rural area support, skills and knowledge to support their local activities.

STORY - Fablab in a rural environment

In 2015 our team created Buinho Association and with it the first fablab in rural Portugal. It was a very disruptive approach, started by a team of designers, teachers and researchers from digital and creative fields. Today Buinho is a European reference for our residency program, as well as our educational and community related programs.

VISION - Arts, Technology & Society

Our vision is to be an inspiring place which fosters creativity, collaboration and innovation. We operate at the intersection of arts, technology and society. Our work focuses on emergent technologies as instruments of social change, resilience, and sustainability. We are guided by the values of fairness, openness and inclusion.

Artists, makers, designers, educators, researchers — individuals and teams — everybody is invited.

“Buinho is a work in progress — we are, together with our residents always improving the spaces and adapting them based on the overall vision and current needs.”

The team is composed by:

Carlos Alcobia Founder and General Manager
Sara Albino Founder and Research Coordinator
Alexia Figueiredo Education Coordinator
Duarte Filipe Educator
Fiona Hawes Educative Consultant
Inês Mourato Educator
Ivan Vuksanow Design and Strategy Consultant
Mónica Reis Administrative Support
Polina Kushnerevich UX and Visual Designer

Buinho is more than just a fablab. We offer private accommodation, working studios, Precious Plastic workspace and machine building, daily production support, all within a creative framework open for artists and makers from different disciplines.

To us it is very important that our programs and actions are interconnected with the local community and heritage.

Among other initiatives, we offer:

  • a weekly cultural program promoted together with members of the local community
  • opportunities for artists to engage with our educational programs which extend to other municipalities in the Alentejo Region
  • residents to have the possibility to organize an open studio event open to the general public

Buinho is the ideal place for those who want to adopt a more experimental attitude in their creative practice, offering a unique experience to its residents.

Technologies & processes available

3D scanning 3D printing Laser cutting Vinyl cutting CNC milling Electronics Photo & video Printing, drawing & painting Robotics Textile machines Welding Arduino Precious Plastic Machines Aquaponics & hydroponics Biomaterial Plastic recycling Citizen Sensing

Services offered

Design missions Education missions Repairing objects Residency programs Exchange programs Kids classes & holiday training courses Workshop memberships Student Internship

Our best practices

The inspiring things we do here to run our collaborative space

Artist in Residency (AIR) Program

categories
Community Starting projects Launching new activities Vision Creating your workshop

The artist in residence (AIR) program is designed and implemented by professionals with years of experience in cultural institutions and similar programs. Buinho AIR is a space of experimentation but also of social transformation, contributing to the increase of the attractiveness of rural territories.

The residency program also includes:

  1. Free weekly tutorials and workshops about 3D printing, 3D modeling, CNC and laser cutting, robotics, and plastic recycling
  2. Weekly contacts with the locals from Messejana where we explore traditional practices as goat cheese or bread making, or visits to traditional artisans’ workshops
  3. Special programs and workshops for residents, such as the Precious Plastic Workshop (for recycling plastic: https://preciousplastic.com/), or our special education branch called Buinho Education (digital empowerment of local children and seniors).

“Our residency program is designed to provide the ideal environment for writers, artists, designers, and other creatives, while in direct contact with the unique atmosphere of the historic town of Messejana. We offer private accommodation, working studios, Precious Plastic workspace and machine shop, and daily production support…” _____

To learn more, read The Guide for Artist in Residency (AIR) program

Contact : info@buinho.pt
Read more

Our makers projects

Get inspired by the DIY projects of our team & members

EIRA - PROFESSORS MOBILITY

Right now, we are looking for Fablab partners that can provide courses to Portuguese teachers from the Alentejo region (1 week training for approximately 8 teachers - financed by the Erasmus grants).

Indeed, our accreditation is meant for the period of 2022-2027, with the possibility of future renewal, we are currently in the process of formalizing the agreement with the Portuguese National Agency for Erasmus.

Possible areas of training:

-Arduino or Micro:bit based bots

-3D modelling for creative practices

-Sensing and biolab

Read more

PRECIOUS PLASTIC ALENTEJO 2021-2023

VOLUNTEER WITH US IN PORTUGAL!

We are looking for makers to stay in our rural Creative Hub and Fablab from February 2022-November 2022.

Precious Plastic Alentejo is a European Solidarity Corps project supported by the European Commission (2020-3-PT02-ESC11-007468), coordinated by Buinho Associação, and running in Portugal from February 2021 until January 2023 (24 months).

Interested? Please feel free to reach out to us.

Read more

We Repair EU Project

We have invited a maker from Ireland to join our growing team of makers, artists and creatives in Buinho, and take part in day-to-day life of fablab and its residents. We spent a residency-week getting immersed in various activities related to social awareness and education, ending with repair café with winter vibes

We developed activities that can connect social awareness (active citizenship) to creativity (design of new products or simply experimentation) and digital skills (digital manufacturing).

This residency was part of an Erasmus+ project, entitled “WeRepair”, coordinated by Buinho Associação and whose partners are Fablab Cuenca (Spain) and Mountain Makers (France)

Read more

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