The first Walk the Talk excursion was to the village of Porto Brandão, on the southern bank of the Tagus river in Lisbon. MKAP is currently developing a series of projects for the village that aim to breathe new life into the settlement, so the discussion from the previous evening served as a crucial precursor to visiting the village. Guests representing Kondor Wessels Building Group were guided around Porto Brandão by Marc Koehler and the MKAP team, and were shown the current sites in the village that have been earmarked for development, that will drastically impact the prospects of the village. The walk ventured into one of the hills that frame Porto Brandão, on which MKA has created a temporary pool and pavilion with spectacular views of the Tagus estuary; we were invited to consider a future where the full potential of such a site could be maximized. Here, the discussion evolved into the potential for collaborative relationships between MKA and Kondor Wessels, and ways in which a carefully-considered user-experience might benefit and nurture the life of the existing village. The morning ended with a lunch at restaurant Muelle, sampling local food and meeting inhabitants of the village.
