Centrala. Nenúfars. Water lilies in the Barcelona Pavilion

Fundació Mies van der Rohe and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute are pleased to announce the release of Nenúfars. Water lilies in the Barcelona Pavilion, a new publication which documents the intervention White waterlilies at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona.

Developed by the architecture studio CENTRALA and curator Aleksandra Kędziorek, the project returns to often overlooked aspect of the Pavilion’s original 1929 design: aquatic plants in the main pool.

Although waterlilies were part of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich’s initial concept, they were not reinstated during the Pavilion’s reconstruction in the 1980s. Launched in spring 2022, White waterlilies reintroduces these plants – not as a literal reconstruction, but as a reflection on the relationship between architecture and aquatic ecology today.

The intervention transforms the Pavilion’s iconic pool and shifts its role from primarily a static reflective surface into a living environment inhabited by water plants, microorganisms, insects, and birds. This subtle change alters how visitors experience this modernist landmark, introducing seasonal variation and ecological processes into what has long been understood as a static modernist composition. What began as a temporary installation has since become a permanent element of the Pavilion.

The publication Nenúfars. Water lilies in the Barcelona Pavilion captures both ideas behind the project and its material development. It places the intervention within a wider context, connecting it to the history of exhibition design and modernist landscape thinking, as well as to current discussions around biodiversity, renaturalization, and urban microclimates.

The White waterlilies project was developed in collaboration with botanists, local institutions, and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe. The project builds on CENTRALA’s ongoing research into the relationship between hydrobotany and architecture, developed through earlier work such as the aquatic plant pot at Zachęta–National Gallery of Art in Warsaw. 

You can order your copy of the book here.

Nenúfars. Water lilies in the Barcelona Pavilion
Authors: Centrala (Małgorzata Kuciewicz, Simone De Iacobis) and Aleksandra Kędziorek with contributions by Ivan Blasi, Marina Cervera, Andrés Jaque, Elke Krasny, Carles Palau and Fernando Ramos / Graphic design: Kaja Kusztra / Publisher: Fundació Mies van der Rohe / Co-publisher: Adam Mickiewicz Institute