The work consisted primarily of extensive field research, visiting and documenting references provided by various experts in Menorca’s traditional architecture. Semi-random explorations in search of rainwater collection systems led us to rural houses, ravines, orchards, talayotic settlements, farmland, gardens, huts and cattle sheds. From the many visits carried out, documentation was distilled on a wide range of ingenious solutions designed to capture and use rainwater.

Over months of work we discovered an entire family of constructions and territorial interventions expressly created to capture, store and distribute rainwater. These ranged from simple excavations in the rock to sophisticated tanks covered with barrel vaults. A collection of elements that together constitute a genuine “architecture of rain”, since their specific purpose is to harness this precious resource.

This collection and storage of rainwater made it possible to have water during times of the year without precipitation. Seen this way, all the cases studied transform rain, which falls from the sky and runs away quickly, into stored fresh water, a vital and highly valued resource. The study shows that in Menorca, until the second half of the twentieth century, every impermeable and sloped surface was used to collect this natural resource. “Not a drop wasted” was the guiding principle, sometimes to obsessive extremes.

The research was carried out jointly with architect Jesús Cardona through a COAIB Research Grant in Architecture, Urban Planning, Territorial Management, Heritage and Environment announced in 2004 (awarded on 18 March 2005) and a grant from the Institut Menorquí d’Estudis in 2007 (awarded on 9 February 2006)¹.

¹ Adapted from the research presentation text for COAIB and IME.