The project developed by Cierto Estudio, h3o architects, and Metrònom focused on the overheating and evaporation of water, a process that necessitated constant maintenance to preserve the building's iconic reflective water feature.
In this way, the water that evaporates and disappears without a trace became the installation's central element. To make this phenomenon visible, the intervention incorporated a system that quantified, recorded, and demonstrated the volume of water lost through evaporation and that had to be continuously replenished.
"Plou Prou?" by Cierto Estudio + h3o architects + Metrònom. Photograph by Simone Marcolin.
"The collaboration arose as a result of our joint participation in the competition for the curatorship of the Catalan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2025 (then under the title It Doesn't Rain). Until then, we had never worked together, but the experience was very stimulating. After being finalists, and coinciding with the open call for Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture, we decided to continue developing that research by giving a new shape to the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, and changing the statement for a direct question to the visitor: Does it rain enough to sustain the consumption we make of water?"
Cierto Estudio, h3o architects, and Metrònom.
The intervention included the installation of twelve elevated industrial tanks, designed to store the volume of water equivalent to that evaporated by the main pond during the fourteen days of the installation. As a complement, an elevated channel ran through the pavilion as a temporary aqueduct, carrying water to the pool via a constant drip. This fine trickle of water linked the architecture to the city's hidden water infrastructure and materialized the passage of time.
"Plou Prou?" by Cierto Estudio + h3o architects + Metrònom. Photograph by Simone Marcolin.
On the exterior wall of the pavilion, the research of six specialists from different disciplines was presented: Marina Garcés, Pol Guasch, Pol Esteve, Miriam García, Marcos Navarrete, Marina Povedano, and Arnau Pascual. The various texts, dedicated to the ecological, hydrological, and political history of Montjuïc mountain, remained hidden from view and could only be read when sprayed with water, inviting visitors to activate the content as part of the experience.
With “Plou Prou?” (Enough Rain?), the teams established a link between the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion and the invisible infrastructure of water, understanding architecture not as an isolated object, but as an active element of an ecosystem and a shared responsibility. At the same time, the installation reclaimed the historical role of fountains as spaces for encounter, exchange, and collective reflection on the use of water resources.
