Designing with Water: Opening Liquid Architectures

On June 30, the Enric Miralles Foundation inaugurated “Liquid Architectures: Water Draws Always in Plural,” part of the “Architecture for Human, Urban, and Planetary Well-Being” program, an exhibition that highlights the relationship between water and architecture through the archives, drawings, and projects of Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue—EMBT Architects—as part of Barcelona World Capital of Architecture 2026.

The opening discussion featured special guests Benedetta Tagliabue and Sir Peter Cook, who was invited to mark the opening of his exhibition “Cities and Pavilions” at our foundation. Cook took us on a journey into his architectural imagination through a practice that has been a constant throughout his career: drawing as a tool for thinking, speculating, and constructing other possible realities, where landscape, nature, and fiction expand the boundaries of the imaginable.

Drawing on drawing’s inherent capacity to explore and conceptualize, the exhibition “Liquid Architectures: Water Draws Always in Plural” offers a multifaceted interpretation of the relationship between water and architecture, understanding water not only as a physical or territorial condition but also as a subject of thought capable of transforming the way architecture is represented, imagined, and conceptualized.

The exhibition and conference are part of the “Architecture for Human, Urban, and Planetary Well-Being” program, which in turn is part of the Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture program, a distinction awarded by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA) to the city hosting the UIA World Congress of Architects, transforming it into a global forum for architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture.

The dialogue is part of the program “Architecture for Human, Urban, and Planetary Well-being,” promoted by the Enric Miralles Foundation. It is a platform for research and debate that explores the transformative role of architecture in addressing major contemporary challenges.

Speakers:

– BENEDETTA TAGLIABUE Benedetta Tagliabue
Co-founder and Principal Architect at EMBT Architects Founder and President of the Enric Miralles Foundation

– JAMPEL DELL` ANGELO
Associate Professor of Water Governance and Policy at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam), Principal Investigator at NEWAVE, and Director of SENSE

– SIR PETER COOK
Director and Principal Architect at Peter Cook Studio Crablab

This event is part of the program for Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture, a distinction awarded by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA) to the city hosting the UIA World Congress of Architects, and transforms it into a global forum for architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture. From February 12 to December 13, a multidisciplinary program will be presented in collaboration with schools, universities, and professional and cultural organizations throughout Catalonia.

Barcelona 2026 World Capital of Architecture is supported by the Barcelona City Council, the Government of Catalonia, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.