The pits of the Panasqueira mines are open wounds throbbing in the landscape of Cabeço do Pião; streams whose access was barred by nature are wiped from the local population’s memory; a well, once a water supply point, is covered for safety reasons; what if ancestral electro-culture techniques could save water and fertiliser?

These are just some of the reflections sparked by the seven teams made up of national and international architecture students, tutored by project workshop teams, partners and local people, who were in the Fundão municipality for a fortnight in July, taking part in field visits, conferences, workshops and the self-construction of installations.

Organised by Fertile Futures, a project representing Portugal at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, curated by Andreia Garcia and assistant curators Ana Neiva and Diogo Aguiar, the International Summer Seminar broadens the reflection launched in Venice, alerting new generations of architects to the relevance of ecological issues in architecture, inviting the different teams to reflect on the scarcity, management and maintenance of fresh water in that territory.

Fundão, one of the Portuguese cities included in the EU Mission for Adaptation to Climate Change, suffers from water scarcity, desertification, wildfire susceptibility and over-intensive agriculture.

When we arrive at Cabeço do Pião, we cannot ignore the grandeur of the Panasqueira mine pits that brutally tear the green carpet that covers the hills and valleys of the surrounding landscape. In the background, we hear the voices of the students who are part of the team tutored by Guida Marques – “Ai la li la, ai la lé la / Ai la li la, ai la lé / Ai la li la, ai la lé la / Ai la li la, ai la lé la, ai la lé la meu bem; apressa-te, ó meu amor, repara o nosso bem.” They rehearse while sewing the flags they will use in the performance scheduled for a few days later on the trails of the Serra do Açor, alerting us to the need to repair these territories.

Songs that echo in our bodies. A gesture that mourns the place, valorising it and filling it with hope at the same time. A repair handbook will be left where the required repair acts in that place are outlined – the repair of the road, the substitution of water and sanitation infrastructures, the need to make a subdivision and allocate housing to the local population, among others.

In the village of Janeiro de Cima, the narrative is used critically and architecturally to generate scenarios and to think about the place by the team tutored by Space Transcribers. Stories from different geographies are combined by the team members with Fundão’s territory, narratives that describe the distinct relationship that each one has with water, considering its origin.

In a reference to Gil Vicente, “O Auto da Barca de Janeiro de Cima” is the outcome of the intersection of different stories, where scenarios of depopulation and drought of the territory are meshed with myths and fables. A metaphor for an environmental diaspora that exists today on a global scale. Narrated through a performance, from a boat on the river Zêzere, the story is rounded off by objects found on the river banks, in a direct relationship with the water element. These items were designed by the team between Casa do Barro, in Telhado, and Casa das Tecedeiras, in Janeiro de Cima, during the Seminar.

The team under the tutorship of Dulcineia Santos Studio uses drawing as a synthesising tool for analysing the territory from three systems – hydrological, biological and social. The focus is the research and design of a secondary water line to document the knowledge resulting from this research. Knowledge that will be shared with the public and the local population. This is a process to address the water issue, a continuous process of learning to record and embed knowledge.

Two staircases built with straw bales, laid side by side and facing in different directions (upstream and downstream), allow the river to be contemplated. Their scale, layout and orientation allow for different experiences, going up or down the stairs, travelling the space between the two bodies or sitting on one level or another. This is the work of a team mentored by Corpo atelier. An approach with roots in Alberto Caeiro’s bucolic traits and sensationism, where the ambition is to be and contemplate, to activate the senses and stop time, without any other meaning.

In Fundão, the team tutored by Ponto atelier occupied the building of Seminário Menor, today Centro para as Migrações, following the study “water typologies” that the project workshop had begun in Venice. With the focus being on “water elements”, the starting point was the water supply and drainage system of the garden in the building’s cloister, sketching a water mirror over the main point of this system: a well in the centre that was bricked up for security reasons.

By reactivating the water element at this point, the garden regains its meaning and acquires a device for daily use by those inhabiting the building – migrants, refugees – encouraging their relationship with water. Besides rewriting the value of water, this new centre establishes a meeting point in the building’s cloister, a place that would be for crossing and not for staying.

The Pedrêz workshop challenged its team to set up a test field to empirically understand whether or not the ancient technique of agricultural production, electroculture, really works. This technique, used during the 19th century and discontinued during the 20th, uses electromagnetic energy to feed crops. If it works, it could significantly cut down on water consumption by plants, as water itself also acts as a conductor for a flow of energy needed for plant species to grow. By introducing this energy into the soil, it will not need to be conducted through the water.

Finally, the team under the tutorship of Ilhéu atelier intervenes in the village of Castelo Novo. Located at the foot of the Serra da Gardunha, it has abundant water, the result of the mountain flow. The group decided to intervene on the river beach, writing in the Alpreade stream an excerpt from the poem “Sempre a água”, taken from Eugénio de Andrade’s work, a poet born in Póvoa da Atalaia, a neighbouring village.

“Flowing instead of being stone” is what we read in the several pink concrete elements laid out at different points of the Castelo Novo river beach, as if they were detached from the existing ruin – a gargoyle allows us to enjoy the waterfall between the two levels of the stream, a step solves the gap in the access, a bench allows us to be in that place and a fourth element associates the intervention with the ruin that exists there. The quote, within the context of the environmental issues introduced by Fertile Futures, suggests the liberation from “stones”, from prejudices, addictions and other thoughts that we inherit, motivating the flow of thoughts and walking towards the future.

The proposals developed by the seven teams, like the works presented in Venice, defy the discipline of architecture, offering approaches beyond the design of buildings or the construction of spaces. They are propositions for a fertile future. According to the curatorial team, “the Seminar wants to raise awareness among future generations on alternative ways of doing architecture, favouring the legacy and future of the Fertile Futures project beyond the exhibition itself.” In conversation with the students, their surprise at working on certain issues within the scope of an architecture seminar is notable. Undeniably, the challenges posed and the dialogues established have contributed to a more comprehensive and transversal view of architecture on the part of these young people. This is what architecture is all about: a constant thinking about the future so that its design meets the urgencies of each time, helping to create fertile futures.

The work of the different teams will be presented in an exhibition in Lisbon, as well as in a catalogue that will continue the one released at the opening of the Venice exhibition.