Overview
Overview
Program MB Amares
Spring 2025 Portugal
MOVING BOUNDARIES AMARES - Spring 2025 – COURSE AND RETREAT
The 5th Edition of the Moving Boundaries Course in Neuroscience, Environmental Psychology and Architecture features a new retreat format in beautiful rural Portugal, with presentations by faculty and participants, discussions, workshops, communal meals, morning walks, social activities, day trips and tours.
Course Topics include: Embodiment: Body-Conscious Design and Somatic Design; Body and Environment (March 22, 23 and 24); Human Experience: Multisensory Experience, Emotion, Enactivism (March 25 and 27); Placemaking and Culture: People-Place Dialogues
(March 28 and 29). Selection of Sub-Topics: Body conscious design; Peripersonal space; Multisensory perception in architecture and design; Dynamic experience and Vision; Wayfinding; Acoustics; Architectural atmospheres and mood; Evidence based design and implications of design for human health; Enriched and restorative environments, etc. New research will be presented by architects, scientists, biologists, sociologists, environmental psychologists and health professionals.
The program begins on Saturday, March 22 in Amares, Minho region of Portugal, with its famous landscapes and rich history of vernacular architecture alongside outstanding modern architecture and design. During this retreat, participants and faculty will collaborate on a publication. All are invited to present work in interactive morning sessions. In the afternoons, you will have a chance to discuss and work in small groups, taking time to reflect on the morning sessions and to collaborate in immersive and embodied learning sessions with colleagues and faculty. The focus in the afternoon sessions will be on developing strategies and applications across disciplines. In addition to our usual activities, we will enjoy poetry readings, sketching sessions, lively debates and film screenings in the evenings. Contributions of all attendees will be included in the publication MBX Manifesto: Design for Health and Wellbeing.
Lectures and debates will be augmented with workshops, discussions and afternoon tours. One field trip early in the course will take us to see the Minho region. A second field trip in Porto will give us an opportunity to experience this magical city, its Ribeira, Foz and Matosinhos districts, as well as architecture built in the last two years. Stay tuned to hear about our surprise guests.
In addition to architecture created by Siza, we will experience influential work by Eduardo Souto de Moura, while living together in his award-winning Pousada Amares, the restored Monastery Santa Maria do Bouro. Moving Boundaries Amares will end on Sunday, March 30th with a farewell lunch and panel discussions with participants.
Contact Us: movingboundaries2025@gmail.com
“The elements of architecture are not visual units or gestalt; they are encounters, confrontations that interact with memory.”
- Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin
PROGRAM AND ROSTER OF SPEAKERS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
March 22nd - 30th
AMARES - MINHO REGION
Saturday, March 22
12:00
1:00
2:00
4:00
5:00
5:30
6:00
6:20
6:45
7:30
Arrival & Check-in
Introductions
Lunch & Introductions (cont.)
Walk after lunch - meet in courtyard
Welcome: Writing the Manifesto
Three Topics - Panel Discussion
Presentation 1
Q&A Discussion
Presentation 2
Q&A Discussion
Break and Walk
Welcome Dinner Celebration
(complimentary - included in tuition)
Sunday, March 23
7:45
10:00
10:30
10:40
11:10
12:10
12:30
2:00
3:30
4:30
8:00
Breakfast, Morning Walk,
Communal Exercise
Session 1: Embodiment - Raymond Neutra and Galen Cranz
Presentation 3
Break
Presentation 4
Q&A Discussion
Break
Reflection (in small teams)
Strategies for Collaboration
Lunch
Walk and Monastery Tour
Field Trip in Minho: Winery and Bom Jesus stairs+church near Braga (Meet the bus outside)
Dinner
Monday, March 24
7:45
10:00
10:30
10:40
11:10
12:10
12:30
2:00
3:30
4:00
6:00
6:20
7:30
Breakfast, Morning Walk, Qigong, Communal Exercise
Session 2: Body and Environment - Andrea de Paiva and Francesca Ferroni
Presentation 5
Break
Presentation 6
Q&A Discussion
Break; Massage bookings start
Reflection (in small teams)
Tools and Applications in Design
Lunch
Poetry Reading or Film
Working Groups
Break
Discussion
Dinner, followed by Special Surprise Event until 11:30pm
Tuesday, March 25
7:30
9:00
9:40
10:10
11:30
11:00
12:00
1:15
4:30
6:30
7:00
8:00
Breakfast, Morning Walk, Qigong, Session 3: Multisensory Experience - Giovanna Colombetti and Luis Villegas
Presentation 7
Presentation 8
Q&A Discussion/Break
Snack
Bus Trip to Porto (50 min.ride)
Tour: Open Sculpture/Monastery
Porto, Ribeira Walk / Boat Tour
Lunch
Tour: Serralves Museum (Siza)
Drinks at the Beach
(Praia da Luz Cafe)
Free Tour of Exhibition at Casa da Arquitectura
Dinner in Matosinhos, Return to Pousada (Option to remain in Porto Overnight, book own room please)
Wednesday, March 26
FREE DAY
Massage 30-minute reservations available all day with break for lunch (please book with F.Costa)
Pousada Amares and
Pousada Geres
Recommended Self-Guided Trips: Porto, Santiago de Compostela, Braga, Guimaraes, Viana do Castelo, Ponte de Lima, Geres Park (Hiking/Thermal Baths)
Thursday, March 27
7:45
10:00
10:30
10:40
11:10
12:10
12:30
2:00
4:00
6:00
6:20
7:30
8:30
Breakfast, Walk, Qigong,
Communal Exercise
Session 4: Building Bridges with Our Environment - David Dorenbaum and Giovanna Colombetti
Presentation 9
Break
Presentation 10
Q&A Discussion
Break
Reflection (in small teams)
New Advances in the Field
Lunch
Group Walk, Poetry or Sketching (optional) - Meet with Team
Break
Discussion
Dinner
Port & Film Screening
Friday, March 28
7:45
10:00
10:30
10:40
11:10
12:10
12:30
2:00
4:00
6:30
7:30
Breakfast, Morning Walk, Yoga,
Communal Exercise
Session 5: Culture and
Placemaking - Andrea Chiba and Raymond Neutra
Presentation 11
Break
Presentation 12
Q&A Discussion
Break
Reflection (in small teams)
Lunch
Working Groups: Applications to
Design Education
Culture Change and Advocacy
Free Time
Dinner and Free Time
or Tour on one's own
Saturday, March 29
7:45
10:00
10:30
10:40
11:10
12:10
12:30
2:00
3:30
4:00
7:30
Breakfast, Morning Walk, Yoga,
Communal Exercise
Session 6: People-Place Dialogue - Itai Palti and Tatiana Berger
Presentation 13
Break
Presentation 14
Q&A Discussion
Break
Reflection (in small teams)
Ethics in Design; Advocacy
Lunch
Poetry Reading or Free Time
Discussion - Working Groups
Dinner
Sunday, March 30
7:45
10:00
11:15
11:30
12:00
1:00
3:00
Breakfast, Morning Walk, Yoga,
Communal Exercise
Discussion in Small Teams
Break
Final Discussion: Topics 1-3
Lessons, Strategies and Applications: Reflect and Synthesize
Check Out by Noon
Farewell Lunch
Program Concludes
Moving Boundaries Amares Course
and Retreat - March 2025 Program
(Updated on March 1, 2025)
Teaching Venue and Lodging in Northern Portugal
12th Century Cistercian Monastery - Pousada Santa Maria do Bouro
Pousada de Santa Maria do Bouro, more commonly known as Pousada Mosteiro Amares is located in Northern Portugal.
The Pousada is the result of the restoration of a Cistercian Monastery from the 12th century, a work of distinguished architect, Eduardo Souto de Moura, winner of the 2011 Pritzker Prize.
Amares offers panoramic mountain views and is ideally located between the historic city of Braga and the Peneda Geres National Park.
Geres National Park
Pousada do Caniçada - Geres Hotel Sao Bento
Pousada Caniçada-Gerês is located near the Peneda-Gerês National Park, the only area in Portugal classified as a National Park.
The Hotel is a mountain hunting chalet immersed in the landscape, sitting high in the mountains between forests and waterfalls, with a vista over the Caniçada Dam, in the middle of the Rio Cávado.
Beyond the beautiful surroundings, the region is also rich in local traditions. Local crafts, cuisine, vernacular constructions, and folklore contribute to a rich heritage and an idyllic and memorable atmosphere.
