Catarina de Almeida Brito

Escudo da Comporta is a rural masterplan of an agricultural estate in Alentejo, Portugal. 

Comporta is an area in Portugal whose landscape and population have been subject to various pressures and epic injustices. In the past three centuries the area’s value has been claimed by its owners, the Portuguese Crown at first, rice farming enterprises after, and, finally, the largest banking dynasty in Portugal, the Espírito Santo family. The latter became insolvent in 2014.

Escudo da Comporta uses the situation of bankruptcy to, for the first time, design the landscape and design it towards a democratic rural environment.

By combining agricultural and urban design processes the project creates a civic landscape that satisfies global pressures while fulfilling the social and civic needs of an area in great distress.