An experiment within the DFL.
Project coordination: José Pedro Sousa
Design team: Pedro de Azambuja Varela, Pedro Martins
Photographs: Carlos de Albuquerque Castro

An experiment within the DFL.
Project coordination: José Pedro Sousa
Design team: Pedro de Azambuja Varela, Pedro Martins
Photographs: Carlos de Albuquerque Castro

This is a design I’ve developed together with Joana Fraga for Pearl Cork. The bed itself is made of cork, and was routed from a single block of cork agglomerate with a multiple axis robotic arm.
A renewed interest in stereotomy, narrowly entwined with digital technologies, has allowed for the recovery and proposal of new techniques and expressions in this building approach. A new classification scheme for stereotomy research allows for the framing of various aspects related to this discipline, including a newly developed fabrication system specially tailored for the wedge-shaped […]
This paper describes the theory and practical experiments on the development of a system for the deployment of stereotomic voussoirs. The recent availability of digital design and fabrication tools has enabled architects to embrace stereotomic thinking, allowing for the efficient spanning of spaces with low tensile capable materials such as stone. The proposed fabrication system […]
This arch was built in the DFL to showcase the possibilities of 3D printed customized joints. 144 joints were modelled automatically with a custom crafted algorithm and printed on site. The metal plates were laser cut. This work was developed together with Prof. Dr. José Pedro Sousa and João Carvalho. It is feature in this […]
This workshop was lectured at Istanbul Technical University. A collaboration between FAUP’s DFL and ITU’s ArfLab, the vault was built with stereotomic rammed earth voussoirs.
This work was the result of my studies at CEAAD – Curso de Estudos Avançados em Arquitectura Digital – organized by ISCTE-IUL and FAUP, and hosted in ISCTE-IUL and VFABLAB in Lisbon in 2013-2013. When approached with a raw material such as expanded cork agglomerate, materiality is a concept that is present from the very […]
Aimed at a couple connected to the restaurant business, this project was born out of the need to reconvert a traditional flat into a different living space, where the kitchen and living room are in the same environment. Thus, following the integration of these two areas in the same space, the impetus arose to make […]
This chair is a retake on the famous Hardoy model, the butterfly chair. This model was designed together with Joana Fraga for Pearl Cork .
This screen was designed together with Joana Fraga for Pearl Cork. It uses solid cork agglomerate, and is a modular design, so it can grow endlessly.
All content © Copyright 2026 by Pedro de Azambuja Varela.
Subscribe to RSS Feed