Following the first phase of work developed during the BIP ONAC 01 workshop in Manteigas, three proposals were selected for further development.
The process of selecting the three proposals to be put forward for public display and for the participatory process with the local community was carried out by means of a vote, taken exclusively by the participants, following a public presentation and discussion sessions.
This selection marked a transition in the process. From the collective production of initial readings, mappings and project hypotheses, the workshop moved into a second stage of refinement, where the selected groups were invited to deepen their positions and expand their proposals into more precise spatial, conceptual and material strategies.
Each project continued to work from a specific interpretation of Manteigas, addressing the territory through its ecological, social, infrastructural and climatic conditions. The proposals developed different ways of engaging with the village, the landscape of Serra da Estrela and the possible role of ONAC as a distributed observatory for climate change.
This second phase allowed the selected works to move beyond the intensity of the workshop and towards a more consolidated form of production. Drawings, diagrams, texts, models and exhibition materials became tools for clarifying each proposal’s argument and for testing its capacity to communicate with a wider public.
The following panels, manifestos and other materials gather the development of the three selected proposals, which would later form the basis for the exhibition in Manteigas.
Group 1 – Metabolisms of Repair or Repair of Metabolisms?
The territory of Manteigas, marked by both beauty and rupture, stands as a living body: layered, wounded and resilient. In recent years, the increasing frequency and intensity of climate-induced wildfires have left visible and invisible scars across this landscape.
On a global scale, Earth’s surface works as a mediator between the atmosphere and the lithosphere, a skin that stores traumatic processes and operates as a shield. In the Mediterranean context, climate trauma appears as a common connective experience. From the fires of Serra da Estrela to the floods of Valencia and Greece, communities are facing a decision: adapt or suffer.
The present work was developed within a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) organised by the NEB goes South network, bringing together students from Southern European schools, regions and communities increasingly affected by extreme natural disasters that wound both territory and people.
These territories are conceptualised as living bodies, composed of different elements and organs that require proper care in order to remain alive as a whole. These metabolisms are understood as sets of actions that sustain living organisms, feeding them both physically and metaphorically.
But what happens after trauma? How do we heal territorial trauma? How do we take care of the different elements of these metabolisms?
We propose a manifesto grounded in the concept of metabolic healing: a slow and natural process based on care, repair and reciprocity. Healing is non-linear. It is cyclical, seasonal and embedded in the rhythms of rural life. In this sense, healing is understood as a dual and consequential process: the repair of metabolism and the metabolism of repair.
Healing must be seen as a holistic process, aimed at intervening while balancing the inertia of the metabolism. While caring, interference with other layers of the metabolism becomes inevitable.
We introduce a methodology for recovering the territory, where every element involved, cultural, economic, social or natural, should be properly fed and allowed to cooperate in the healing process.
When Cronus Ate His Children
When Cronus became ruler of the world, he remained mindful of his father’s prophecy: that he would be overthrown by one of his children. In order to prevent this, he kept close watch over his wife Rhea, and every time she gave birth, he devoured the newborn child.
However, when Rhea became pregnant with Zeus, she decided that the situation had gone too far and sought help from her mother, Earth, and her father, Uranus. They told her that Zeus would be the one to overthrow Cronus and sent Rhea to give birth in Crete, where she hid him and allowed him to grow. She then returned to Cronus, pretending she was still pregnant. Wrapping a large stone as if it were a newborn, she gave it to Cronus, who swallowed it without checking.
We understand repair as a process that heals surface trauma while also going deeper than the surface. It operates in a layered manner, recognising that healing must be intersectional.
If you feed an organism with the wrong medicine, it does not heal.
Beginning of the Process
Keywords
Trauma; Climate trauma in the Mediterranean; Healing trauma; Territory as a living organism; Layers of care; Metabolic repair
Group 2 – Keeping the Butter(s) from Melting
KEY-WORDS
ACTIVATION; AS-FOUND APPROACH; COMMUNITY; CIRCULARITY; TERRITORY
MANIFESTO
The future is what we want to preserve.
We envision Manteigas as an active and ongoing experimentation on dealing with the effects of climate change on a such-as context. Our strategy relies on the paradigm shift between an Observatory (passive) to an Activatory (active). By surpassing observation, the territorial activation can evolve into a pilot-project to produce knowledge locally and share and reproduce it in a global network.
What is an observatory depending on?
We think that through an as-found approach we can give space for isotropy on both ecological, economical and social regards to the territory. In an inter-connected system, we propose a guided sequence of actions, both tangible and intangible, to approach like-wise territorial contexts, in order to achieve a network of self-sustainable and self-managed sites. The intersections and fluxes generated by the encounter of the different programs allows to build a map of action, a strategy, a stand on the escalating effects of climate change. We propose a language that transcends physical boundaries and covers a broad spectrum of aspects in the urban-rural dichotomy. Departuring from the suffix -ory, “of or relating to”, we propose a system of livintories, datatories, learntories, debatetories, observatories, and more to collectively imagine.
Group 5 – Does it even Matter?
“It is the future that we want to preserve”
Christina, last human operator of ONAC
We witnessed
An ambiguous site: an incredible location offering a beautiful view over the Manteigas Valley, while remaining difficult for the local community to access.
A place tied to the historical meaning of the mountaintop, evoking a safe space for healing in direct relation with nature.
A non-welcoming environment, surrounded by a fence that produces a feeling of segregation. The technical equipment suggests that the place is reserved only for those with specialised knowledge, while the deterioration of both the interior and exterior reinforces the idea that it is solely a working space, rather than a place that could be inhabited and alive.
We envision
A stronger connection between the people of Manteigas, and the surrounding villages, and ONAC, one that goes beyond the physical dimension.
The transformation of ONAC into a landmark that becomes part of the imaginary of Manteigas.
The possibility of allowing the site to decay with dignity, integrating with fauna and flora, and allowing nature to reclaim and heal the place.
A broader role for ONAC as a comprehensive witness to how the landscape and its inhabitants coexist.
We question
Why ONAC?
How do we envision ONAC as a tool to tackle climate change?
How is our relationship with technology?
Is technology affecting the way we interact?
Are we able to adapt to the constantly evolving state of technology?
What if there is no need for researchers?
What if there is no link between Manteigas and ONAC?
What if ONAC was independent?
What if people do not care about climate change?
Does climate change exist?
What if it does not matter?