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Chumbaria Village – Hemp Brick House is a 2024 renovation by Arquitectura Viva in Leiria, Portugal. Rather than build a new house from hemp, the project adapted a fire-damaged former barn into two small guest lodgings, retaining its stone walls and adding hemp concrete blocks as an interior lining. The 184 m² project is the first phase of a broader plan to restore a deteriorated village complex.
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What is the Chumbaria Village hemp-brick house?
It is an adaptive-reuse project, not a new-build hemp house. Arquitectura Viva renovated a former barn in Chumbaria, in Portugal’s Leiria region, creating two small accommodations within a complex of older buildings. The published project record gives the renovation’s area as 184 m² and its year as 2024. The architects’ project description, published by ArchDaily, describes the building as possibly having served as a stable on the ground floor, with a granary or dwelling above.
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The name “Hemp Brick House” points to one visible element of the renovation, but it can give a misleading impression of the whole construction. The project description identifies the hemp blocks as an interior lining on the existing walls; it does not describe them as the building’s main structural system. The older stone masonry remains, while concrete reinforcement strengthens the structure and a replacement timber roof structure is left exposed.
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The building had been badly damaged before the renovation: a fire had destroyed its floor and roof about ten years earlier. The architects’ account presents the work as part of a larger rehabilitation effort, not an isolated conversion. The owners had bought an abandoned village made up of six groups of deteriorated buildings, with the intention of turning it into local accommodation and a wellness retreat.
How were hemp blocks used in the renovation?
The hemp concrete blocks were installed against the inside face of the existing stone walls. Arquitectura Viva says the lining was intended to provide thermal and acoustic comfort. The blocks were initially intended to receive plaster, but the design team changed course and left them visible, making the wall assembly part of the interior’s finish rather than concealing it behind a smooth surface.
An interview with owner Sarah McGuinness in HempBuild Magazine gives more detail about the assembly: the original thick stone walls, a 5 cm air gap for breathing and services, then an interior wall of hemp blocks. McGuinness says the blocks were supplied by Canhamor, a company in Alentejo, and installed by local masons. The project listing credits Canhamor among its manufacturers, but the precise air-gap detail comes from the owner interview rather than the architectural project record.
That distinction matters when describing what the renovation demonstrates. The documented approach combines retained masonry with an inner hemp-block layer; it is not evidence that hemp blocks can simply replace every component of an old stone wall. The project sources do not provide a full technical specification, including block thickness, fixing details, junction treatment, or a complete section drawing. Readers should therefore treat the published description as an account of this particular assembly, not as a ready-to-copy construction recipe.
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The word “brick” in the project name should also be read in context. The sources call the units hemp concrete blocks, while the title uses “Hemp Brick House.” They establish that the blocks form an interior wall lining; they do not provide a product specification or explain whether “brick” refers to a particular block format. The safest description is hemp-block lining within a renovated stone building.
What did the renovation retain, reinforce, and replace?
The project layers new work onto the building’s existing fabric. Its stone masonry remains visible as the old enclosure, while concrete reinforcement strengthens the structure and, according to the architects, allows larger openings that connect views from inside to the surrounding landscape. The roof’s timber structure was replaced and left exposed. The result is not an attempt to make the new work disappear: stone, timber, concrete, hemp blocks, steel, and glazing are all legible parts of the building.
The different materials have distinct roles in the account. Stone is the retained masonry; concrete is used for structural reinforcement and details; hemp blocks line the inside of the walls; timber forms the new roof structure and the upper-floor construction; steel appears in the stair; and glazing opens the building to views. The project description also identifies a polished screed floor on the ground level. On the upper floor, timber flooring sits over a wood structure that also makes the ground-floor ceiling.
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This approach follows the architects’ stated aim to use materials “exactly as they are, showing their functions and potential, without disguising them.” That is a design statement attributed to Arquitectura Viva in its ArchDaily project text, not a claim that every material is untreated or that all construction layers are exposed. The account specifically says the hemp blocks were to be plastered before the decision was made to leave them visible. The broader principle is visual legibility: the finishes allow visitors to read much of the building’s old and new construction.
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For a painting or finishing perspective, the choice to expose the blocks is as significant as the choice of material. A plastered surface would have concealed their texture and made the wall read more like a conventional smooth interior. Leaving the units visible gives the lining its own visual presence and makes the contrast with the old stone and bare concrete part of the interior composition. The project record does not specify a coating, paint system, or maintenance treatment for the hemp blocks, so it would be inaccurate to infer one from the photographs or the description alone.
Does hempcrete insulate an old stone building?
In Chumbaria, the architects say the hemp concrete blocks were intended to contribute thermal and acoustic comfort. The owners later described the renovated buildings as warm in winter, cool in summer, dry, and quiet. Those statements offer useful context about the occupants’ impressions, but neither source publishes measured thermal performance, acoustic ratings, energy savings, or a before-and-after comparison for this project.
So the project supports a limited, precise answer: hemp blocks were used as an interior lining in a renovated stone building, and the design team assigned them a thermal and acoustic role. The available sources do not establish how much they improved comfort, whether they reduced energy use, or how the assembly performs compared with other retrofit options. Nor do they provide the climate, moisture, or code analysis a different building would need before adopting a similar detail.
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That limit is important because the project’s visual result can make the assembly seem simpler than it is. The owner-reported air gap, existing wall, interior block lining, services, and finish decisions all form part of the particular renovation. A photo of exposed blocks does not reveal every junction or prove that the same wall arrangement is appropriate for another old masonry building. Anyone considering a comparable retrofit would need project-specific advice from qualified local design and building professionals, using the actual building conditions and applicable requirements rather than treating Chumbaria as a performance test.
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How does the project fit into the larger village plan?
The two lodgings are the first phase described in the project record, not evidence that all six groups of buildings have been restored. In a September 2025 interview, McGuinness told HempBuild Magazine that the accommodations had opened to guests and that more than 400 guests had stayed since opening in 2024. That figure is owner-reported, not an independently audited count.
The same interview reported plans to restore eight remaining village houses with hempcrete blocks. It also said three additional houses and a large barn intended for events and workshops had planning permission. These are status claims and plans as reported in September 2025; they should not be mistaken for confirmation that construction has since been completed. The interview also reported that filming was under way for Series 5 of BBC4’s Help! We Bought a Village.
These later details show how the first renovation relates to the owners’ wider ambition: accommodation and a retreat developed through the rehabilitation of a larger, neglected group of buildings. They do not change the scale of the documented architectural project itself. The published 184 m² figure belongs to the Chumbaria Village – Hemp Brick House project record; the six groups describe the purchased village complex, not the number of completed homes.
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Chumbaria is useful as a case study in adaptive reuse, material expression, and one documented way of adding hemp blocks inside existing stone walls. It shows how a damaged former barn could be adapted for lodging while retaining old masonry, strengthening the structure, replacing the roof, and making new finishes visible. It also makes clear that a low-key finish decision—plaster the blocks or leave them exposed—can change how the interior expresses the construction.
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It is not a published technical evaluation of hemp construction. The project sources provide no measured U-values, energy-consumption data, acoustic results, carbon accounting, cost comparison, or life-cycle assessment. The owners’ descriptions of comfort are valuable as reported experience, but they are not instrumented findings. The articles also do not provide a full construction specification or establish current product availability for the blocks used.
There are limits to what can be concluded about the architecture from a project page and an interview, too. The records identify the architect as Arquitectura Viva, the area as 184 m², the project year as 2024, the construction credit as Nelson Batista Construções Lda, and the photographer as Hugo Santos Silva. They do not supply enough information to reconstruct every structural or finish detail. Divisare’s project listing also locates the work at Chumbaria, Portugal, and reproduces the architectural project description.
For readers interested in the project’s practical lesson, the strongest takeaway is not that hemp blocks guarantee a particular indoor climate. It is that a retrofit can preserve and reveal old masonry while adding a distinct interior layer and visibly differentiated new structural work. The evidence for that design choice is clear; the project-specific performance figures needed to quantify its effects are not published in the reviewed sources.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chumbaria Village open to visitors?
The owners reported in September 2025 that the two accommodations were open to guests and could be rented. That is a dated owner-reported status, so check the current booking information before making travel plans.
Who designed and built the Hemp Brick House?
Arquitectura Viva is credited as the architect, and Nelson Batista Construções Lda is listed for construction. The project credits Hugo Santos Silva for photography.
How many buildings are included in the Chumbaria restoration?
The owners’ original purchase was described as six groups of deteriorated buildings. In 2025 they also discussed restoring eight remaining village houses, but that figure is a reported plan, not a count of completed renovations.
Were the Chumbaria hemp blocks plastered or painted?
The blocks were initially intended to be plastered, but the design team chose to leave them exposed. The published project sources do not identify a paint or coating system.
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