What Colectivo Warehouse does

Colectivo Warehouse is a Lisbon-based participatory architecture collective founded in 2013, operating from Ateliers da Penha with a small core team of at least four identified members (Rúben Teodoro, Mónica Di Eugenio, Raquel Santos, Sebastião de Botton). The practice designs and physically constructs architectural and urban projects for cultural institutions, municipalities, festivals, and educational bodies, blending architecture, urbanism, carpentry, pedagogy, and event production. Its underlying methodology centres on co-creation, mediation, and hands-on construction: the collective runs open-design processes and 'Urban Communities – 6 Steps' workshops (adapted from Platoniq's 'Moving Communities') and applies emotional mapping, open-drawing bilateral knowledge exchange, and material reuse from prior projects. Deliverables range across categories including temporary festival installations (notably the 1,800 m² Alchemy Circle stage for Boom Festival 2022), community infrastructure (the award-winning Community Kitchen of Terras da Costa), participatory artistic installations (Future Spaces for Goethe Institut's 60th anniversary), educational projects (Architecture with Community Participation course at Gerador), and inclusive urbanism work (Aqui Há Dragões with Zuloark). The business model is project-based and non-equity-funded: revenue flows from municipal commissions, festival contracts, cultural-institution commissions, European Cultural Foundation R&D grants, academic tutoring, and earned media visibility. No public pricing exists; projects are commissioned through direct relationships and competitive tendering rather than self-serve channels. Recognition includes the Playscapes International Competition 1st Prize, Archdaily Building of the Year 2016, European Prize for Urban Public Space finalist status, an ECF R&D grant, and a letter of recognition from the Portuguese Parliament.

Name

Colectivo Warehouse

Legal name

Colectivo Warehouse

Website

https://warehouse.pt

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Colectivo Warehouse is a Lisbon-based participatory architecture collective founded in 2013 that designs and physically builds co-created urban installations, community infrastructure, and educational projects for Portuguese municipalities, cultural festivals and institutes (including Boom Festival and Goethe Institut), and academic partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Participatory Architecture Services

NAICS

Landscape Architectural Services (54132), Landscape Architectural Services (541320)

SIC

Lumber & Wood Products (No Furniture) (2400), Services-To Dwellings & Other Buildings (7340)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Engagement & Participatory Planning (BPAHAKAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Urban Planning & Master Planning (BPAHAKAD), Landscape Architecture & Site Design (BPAHAKAC), Community Arts, Culture & Creative Placemaking Enterprises (BPAGALAO)

Keywords

• Participatory architecture
• Community urban activation
• Festival stage installation
• Architectural education tutoring
• Woodworking prototyping workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisboa

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Colectivo Warehouse develops participatory architectural projects in the cultural and social fields, conceiving, designing, and physically building installations alongside communities through mediation, co-creation, and hands-on construction. The collective delivers large-scale festival and exhibition installations, urban activation interventions, educational courses and training workshops on community participation, and bespoke furniture/exhibition modules, operating across architecture, urbanism, social intervention, arts, and pedagogy.

Product overview

Colectivo Warehouse is an architecture collective that develops participatory architectural projects in cultural and social fields. Their offering is a portfolio of services including participatory architectural projects, educational programs (courses and training workshops on community participation), and temporary urban installations/artistic projects for festivals and cultural institutions. Key offerings include the Architecture with Community Participation Course, the Reinvente o Seu Bairro Training Workshop using the Urban Communities – 6 Steps methodology, and various festival installations such as Alchemy Circle at BOOM Festival. The collective emphasizes mediation processes, co-creation, hands-on experimentation, and urban activation, with projects spanning from educational workshops to large-scale festival stages and community space interventions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Participatory Architectural Projects End-to-end participatory architectural projects for cultural and social fields, based on mediation processes that foster participation, inclusion, and ownership for the collective and responsible construction of public and private space. Served to municipal governments, cultural institutions, festivals, and educational partners.
• Architecture with Community Participation Course A 3-month tutoring course on architecture with community participation, exploring methodologies, strategies, and tools for projects with transformative impact at various scales. Delivered to students and adult learners via Academia Gerador in Portugal.
• Reinvente o Seu Bairro Training Workshop Training workshop on projects with community participation, using the 'Urban Communities – 6 Steps' methodology and adaptive empirical tools. Delivered to municipal staff and project implementers.
• Alchemy Circle Festival Stage A 1,800 m² covered stage structure with a 1,450 m² dance floor and 20,000 m³ volume, featuring a 63m sequence of 12 wood arches with max span of 46m and 15m height. Designed and built for Boom Festival 2022.
• Future Spaces Installation Participatory artistic installation inviting people to contribute ideas about the future of cultural spaces through written tiles. Commissioned for Goethe Institut Portugal's 60th anniversary.
• Questionabilis Installation Artistic installation and debate event exploring questions about architecture today through open community conversation. Created for the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2022.
• Aqui Há Dragões (Here be Dragons) Project Inclusive urban and social reactivation project promoting inclusion through art by connecting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with artists across Matosinhos and Porto. Developed for the Porto Design Biennial 2021.
• Laboratory for Civic and Cultural Innovation Artistic co-created urban intervention along a cycle-pedestrian route, involving emotional mapping, co-design sessions, temporary installations, and community participation. Commissioned via 4is – Plataforma para a Inovação Social.
• Imago Lisboa Photo Festival Exhibition Structures Modular wooden and acrylic exhibition structures built for the Imago Lisboa Photo Festival at Museu da Água EPAL and other venues. 8–12 modular structures constructed and installed across the 2019, 2020, and 2021 editions.
• Festival ÉcoL'Art – Ma Bibliothèque (Dakar) Festival of Ecology and Art held at Liceu Galandou Diouf in Dakar, featuring intercultural dialogue between Senegalese and Portuguese artists with workshops, exhibitions, and community participation.
• Exhibition Modules for Museu de Lamas Wooden exhibition modules with two fixed and two adjustable shelves, designed for adaptability to different exhibition panels and audiences of all ages, with a step-by-step assembly manual for autonomous expansion.
• Natural Construído Installation Dodecagonal geometric installation for Estufa Fria in Lisbon, composed of 12 modules with pine wood frames and turmeric-dyed cotton fabric, exploring the dichotomy between natural and constructed environments.
• Being a Place Installation Site-specific installation for Teatro Avenidas ground floor window niches, made from leftovers of other projects, exploring sensory and emotional components of 'welcoming' through form, geometry, light, and color.
• For a Better Neighborhood Project Educational project developed with 3rd year students about the importance of public space, including orientation mapping, emotional mapping, community interviews, and 1:1 scale model building, in São João do Estoril.

Quantifiable outcome

• Alchemy Circle stage for Boom Festival 2022: 1,800 m² covered area, 1,450 m² dance floor, 20,000 m³ volume, 63m sequence of 12 wood arches (max span 46m, height 15m)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and flagship.

• Teatro AvenidasminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Site-specific installation 'Being a place' (Ser Lugar) created for the ground floor window niches of Teatro Avenidas in Lisbon, exploring themes of welcome, inclusion, and sensory experience through materials reused from previous projects.
• Jardins AbertosminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Created 'Natural Construído' – a site-specific installation for the Jardins Abertos festival at Lisbon's Estufa Fria, exploring the dichotomy between built and natural environments through a dodecagonal wooden structure with hand-dyed cotton textiles.
• Câmara Municipal de CascaiscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Ongoing partnership under the 'Reinvente o Seu Bairro' programme, in which Colectivo Warehouse delivered a training workshop on community participation and developed the 'For a Better Neighborhood' educational project with Escola Básica da Galiza. The municipality commissions the collective for participatory urban interventions targeting citizens.
• Boom FestivalflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Ongoing creative partnership for the design and construction of major stage installations at Boom Festival. Colectivo Warehouse designed the Alchemy Circle 2022 – a 1,800 m² stage structure themed on 'The Anthropocene' with 12 wood arches spanning 46m.
• Goethe Institut PortugalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Commissioned to create the 'Future Spaces' participatory installation for Goethe Institut's 60th anniversary in Portugal. The installation invited the public to contribute ideas about the future of cultural spaces by writing on tiles over the course of a month.
• Trienal de Arquitectura de LisboacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Created the 'Questionabilis' installation and moderated the associated public debate for the Multiplicity exhibition, part of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2022 – Terra. The project explored the role of architecture in contemporary society.
• 4is – Plataforma para a Inovação SocialcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Promoter of the Laboratory for Civic and Cultural Innovation project – an artistic co-created urban installation along the cycle-pedestrian route between Vila Nova de Famalicão and Póvoa de Varzim. 4is initiated and coordinated the project with Colectivo Warehouse as implementation partner.
• Município de Vila Nova de FamalicãocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partner in the Laboratory for Civic and Cultural Innovation project, contributing to the transformation of a section of the cycle-pedestrian route between Vila Nova de Famalicão and Póvoa de Varzim through co-created temporary urban installations.
• Gerador (Academia Gerador)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Colectivo Warehouse served as tutor for the 'Architecture with Community Participation' course at Academia Gerador – a teaching space dedicated to the participatory dimension. The 3-month course covered experiences, strategies, and methodologies for participatory urban projects.
• ZuloarkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021International collaboration on 'Aqui Há Dragões' (Here be Dragons) for the Porto Design Biennial 2021 – an inclusive urban art project placing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities at the centre of urban policy and social design, working across Matosinhos and Porto.
• Município do PortocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Partner in the 'Aqui Há Dragões' urban and social reactivation project, working with people with disabilities and peripheral urban communities through inclusive art and participatory urbanism.
• Embaixada de Portugal no Senegal / Instituto Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da LínguaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Invited by Ghost Creative Productions with support from the Portuguese Embassy in Senegal and Camões – Institute for Cooperation and Language, Colectivo Warehouse participated in the ÉcoL'Art festival at Liceu Galandou Diouf in Dakar, an ecology and art festival promoting environmental awareness among students.
• Museu de Lamas / DGArtes / Câmara Municipal de Santa Maria da FeiraminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021Design and construction of expository modules for Museu de Lamas, including a step-by-step assembly manual for self-construction. The first installation hosted the 'Living Among What's Left Behind' exhibition by photojournalist Mário Cruz, organised by BasqueirArt festival.
• Imago Lisboa Photo Festival (Curator: Rui Prata)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Multi-year partnership (2019, 2020, 2021) to design and build expository structures for the Imago Lisboa Photo Festival. Built 8–12 modular wooden/acrylic structures at Museu da Água EPAL, Reservatório da Mãe d'Água das Amoreiras, and Galeria Imago Lisboa.
• New Generations FestivalminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2015Participation in debates and conference at the 3rd (Genova, 2015) and 4th (Roma, 2017) editions of New Generations Festival – a major European platform for emerging architecture and design practices.
• Câmara Municipal de CascaisflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Initial collaboration on the Cozinha Comunitária das Terras da Costa (Community Kitchen of Terras da Costa) project, which provided essential infrastructure to a marginalised community lacking water and sanitation. This award-winning project received formal recognition from the Portuguese Parliament.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Studio Basurama: Madrid-based collective working at the intersection of architecture, art, and sustainability, focused on material reuse and community projects. Comparable participatory methodology and Iberian base; similar scale and project-based model.
• Zuloark: Madrid-based participatory architecture collective focused on open-source urbanism, inclusive design, and tactical urbanism. Direct collaborator with Colectivo Warehouse on the 'Aqui Há Dragões' (Here be Dragons) project for Porto Design Biennial 2021, and the most directly comparable peer in terms of methodology and client mix.
• Raumlabor Berlin: Berlin-based collective building experimental urban interventions, pavilions, and participatory installations for cultural and civic clients. Closest German peer in terms of designing+building hybrid practice and festival/civic client mix.
• Recetas Urbanas: Seville-based architecture collective led by Santiago Cirugeda, specialising in informal settlement upgrades, participatory urbanism, and tactical interventions. Comparable in scale, Iberian geography, and bottom-up community-led approach.
• Assemble: London-based architecture and design collective working across participatory design, community-led construction, and reuse-led projects. Won the Turner Prize (2015) for the Granby Workshop. Closest UK analogue to Colectivo Warehouse's model of designing + building + opening-source methodologies with communities.
• EXYZT: Paris-based architecture collective building temporary, participatory urban installations and pavilions. Closest French peer in terms of designing+constructing hybrid practice for cultural and festival clients.
• todo por la praxis: Madrid-based architecture and urbanism collective working on civic participation, public space, and tactical urbanism projects across Spain. Similar Iberian context, project-based delivery, and engagement with municipal clients.

Emerging players

• Urban-Think Tank: International design practice focused on informal urbanism, participatory design, and social infrastructure in the Global South. Comparable client segments (marginalised communities, municipalities) but a larger and more research-oriented operation than Colectivo Warehouse.
• Bijari: Brazil-based architecture and urbanism collective working on community-driven installations and temporary structures in public spaces. Comparable temporary-installation approach and social-impact focus, but with a Latin American client base.

Others

• Tactical Urbanist's Institute (Tactical Urbanism Panel / Street Plans): Adjacent ecosystem player — a collective/practice ecosystem and consultancy advocating tactical urbanism and participatory placemaking. Not a direct competitor but a thought-leadership reference point for the methodology Colectivo Warehouse applies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCQlZTSSH9XRCQUunw1uvtOw
• Facebookfacebook.com/colectivowarehouse
• Instagraminstagram.com/colectivo_warehouse

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Colectivo Warehouse