BIP ONAC — HyperFocus established Manteigas as the first laboratory of the ONAC / EPIC CYCLE, initiating the development of the National Observatory for Climate Change as a territorial and disciplinary prototype.
Located in the Serra da Estrela, the laboratory addressed climate change as a spatial, social and environmental condition. Rather than approaching ONAC as an isolated building, the workshop explored its possible activation as a distributed system embedded within the existing fabric of Manteigas, connecting scientific research, local infrastructures, cultural practices, housing, landscape and environmental awareness.
Structured within the Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme and integrated in the NEBgS network, the laboratory brought together students, tutors, researchers, invited guests, local agents and partner institutions from Southern Europe. Through a one-week period of collective immersion, complemented by preparatory and follow-up sessions, participants engaged directly with the territory through walking, mapping, discussion, critical reflection and project development.
The pedagogical process followed a sequence of territorial recognition, manifesto construction, strategic definition, project development and public presentation. This structure allowed the workshop to move from individual observation to collective production, transforming the village and the Serra da Estrela landscape into an active medium for architectural experimentation.
The laboratory operated through the re-designation of existing conditions. Public buildings, working spaces, infrastructures, open urban areas and ecological systems became tools for analysis, discussion and intervention. Drawings, diagrams, models, manifestos, panels and installation materials translated these readings into strategic and spatial proposals, later extended through selection, exhibition and publication.
As the inaugural moment of the ONAC / EPIC CYCLE, Manteigas established the conceptual and methodological foundations for a broader network of laboratories. It positioned architecture not only as a tool for spatial design, but as a structuring agent within environmental, social and knowledge-based relations.
The Manteigas laboratory opened a trajectory for future research on distributed infrastructures, territorial reconfiguration and collective responses to the climate crisis.
