Liz Diller, Eduardo Souto de Moura and Yves Béhar are among six architecture and design studios that have created cork installations for the City Cortex program in Lisbon.

Curated by Guta Moura Guedes and produced by the world's largest cork processing group, Amorim, City Cortex challenged architects to create sculptures and installations that would expand the use of cork in an urban context.

Liz Diller created a small library made from cork

Diller, of US studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro, chose to create a "second skin" made from cork for a number of trees and tree trunks, which function as seating and as miniature libraries.

The collaboration with a nearby municipal library saw the architect fill the cork installations with books on different themes, with one tree holding a selection of books that can be read in one day and another holding only books on hats.

Small seats made from cork complete the library

To Diller, designing a smaller project such as this one is important in an urban context.

"For me personally, size does matter, in all different ways size matters – the design of a drinking glass is just as complex as designing something like masterplan for part of the city," Diller said at a tour of the installation.

"It's important to do things on an urban scale that has an intimacy."