In early 2024, Beate and Marco Merkel discovered a ruined property in the hills of Vila do Bispo, Algarve. It was the kind of place many would overlook: a structure slowly returning to the earth, surrounded by overgrown land and ancient olive trees. But Beate and Marco saw something else. They saw potential. They saw the beginning of a living proof of concept.
What drew them was not just the ruin itself, but the question it made impossible to ignore: what if we built differently? What if buildings did not merely reduce harm, but actively contributed to ecological repair? What if architecture could store carbon, support biodiversity, and work with the land rather than against it?
The property extends across 2.325 hectares within the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina — a protected landscape where every intervention must be carefully justified, measured, and monitored. There are no shortcuts here. The soil is thin, the climate is hot and dry, and the ecological balance is delicate.
From the beginning, the vision reached beyond a private project. They saw the possibility of creating a place where regenerative building, renaturation, and practical ecological knowledge could come together. Hempcrete walls that store carbon while breathing with the seasons. Permaculture systems that restore soil life and biodiversity. Water strategies designed around winter rains and long dry periods. A place where architecture, agriculture, and ecology are not in conflict, but in collaboration.
Wild Roots is not a resort, and it is not a luxury retreat. It is a proof of concept, a research-driven initiative, and a statement: the future of building should not force a choice between comfort, responsibility, and ecological intelligence. It should bring them together.
