twelve tanks and dripping aqueduct trace water loss at mies van der rohe barcelona pavilion

Twelve elevated tanks visualize water loss in Barcelona Pavilion

Plou prou? is an ephemeral intervention by Cierto Estudio, h3o architects and Metrònom at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona. Selected through the Open Call for Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture, the project invites visitors to rethink the relationship between architecture, water and the climate crisis. The intervention focuses on one of the pavilion’s defining elements: its reflective pools. Far from being static surfaces, the pools are fragile systems affected by heat and evaporation, requiring water to be constantly replenished to preserve their familiar architectural image. Twelve elevated industrial tanks accumulate more than 12,000 liters of groundwater, equivalent to the volume estimated to evaporate from the main pool during the fourteen days of the intervention. An elevated channel crosses the pavilion as a temporary aqueduct, returning the water to the pool through a constant drip. This continuous thread of water makes evaporation and the passing of time physically visible.

six panels map montjuïc’s ecological and political waterscape

On the pavilion’s exterior wall, six panels present research into the ecological, political and water-related history of montjuïc. The texts remain hidden when dry and only become visible when visitors spray the panels with water, turning the act of reading into part of the installation. Plou prou? connects the pavilion with Barcelona’s invisible water infrastructures and with the wider waterscape of montjuïc. Rather than understanding architecture as an isolated object, the project by collaborative team of Cierto Estudio, h3o architects and Metrònom presents it as an active part of an ecosystem and a shared responsibility. The installation was accompanied by a public program combining performance, poetry, debate, gastronomy and music. These activities recovered the historical role of fountains as places for meeting, exchange and collective reflection. 

project info:

name: Plou Prou?

architects: Cierto Estudio | @ciertoestudio, h3o architects | @h3oarchitects, Metrònom | @metronom.arquitectura
location: Mies van der Rohe pavilion, Barcelona
dates: 17th – 30th July, 2026

photographers: Simone Marcolin | @simoneemarcolin, Cecília Coca | @celiadecoca

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