This summer, UMass Amherst students working with Isabel Albergaria, Laudalina Estereiro, and Eduardo Marques from the University of Azores explored ways in which sustainability in the Azores can become a personal inquiry and intervention. With Telmo Eleutério from the University of Azores, other students explored concepts for the facade of the future butterfly house at BioKairos. They will present full scale studies of experimental shingles made from locally sourced biogenic materials and inspired by the Azorean territory. 

Working at the intersection of design, science, and society — in dialogue with local materials, artisans, and institutions — students design with and for nature, envisioning what may become a Butterfly Pavilion, to be built at BioKairos Materia, an organic farm and environmental education center located in Lagoa. The outcomes of this year’s residency, along with the new studies developed during the program, will be presented at vaga.