Where rivers, reservoirs, and rainfall can no longer be relied upon consistently, water is increasingly being sought in the atmosphere. Fog, atmospheric humidity, and condensation each offer different ways of collecting it. When architecture begins to collect water from the air, surfaces, structures, and open spaces become part of the water system, transforming the very skin of buildings into active harvesters of essential resources.
According to UNICEF, Jordan’s National Water Strategy estimates that each person has access to only about 61 cubic meters of renewable water per year, far below the 500 cubic meters commonly used as a threshold for absolute water scarcity. Around half of the population receives piped water only once a week, while groundwater is being extracted faster than many aquifers can naturally recharge. This severe deficit has sparked intense interest in unconventional resources, pushing designers and engineers to look upward rather than downward for relief.
Atmospheric water harvesting encompasses several different technologies. Fog consists of suspended droplets that can be intercepted by mesh; dew forms when a surface cools below the dew point; and humidity can be extracted through sorption or condensation processes. Each requires different climatic conditions and produces different quantities of water. A critical review of atmospheric water harvesting for building façades identifies these as distinct approaches and finds that their integration into architecture remains constrained by technology readiness and manufacturing costs.
Columbia GSAPP’s Water Urbanism: Amman explored these possibilities in Jordan. Developed around Jordan’s water crisis and refugee conditions, the studio proposed interventions that combined water collection with shade, sanitation, gathering, and productive landscapes. At the Al-Hadalat site, shelter clusters of refugees were proposed around fog towers capable of collecting an estimated 800 to 2,000 liters of water per day, alongside smaller shaded fog structures projected to collect around 500 liters. These figures represent design projections rather than measured operational results, offering a vision of how emergency architecture might simultaneously sustain life and community.
Built from palm wood and mesh knitted from discarded ration sacks, the structure would intercept fog while using its exposure to moving air to provide shade and a place for congregation. Water would travel through the structure into underground storage before being distributed to showers, sanitation, and productive landscapes. Wastewater would move through constructed wetlands and return to the agricultural system, completing a localized, circular loop.
Reservoirs, treatment plants, and distribution networks operate largely outside the architectural experience of the city. Fog harvesting, by contrast, requires infrastructure to remain uncovered to the atmosphere. The collector must occupy space, remain exposed, and respond directly to atmospheric conditions. Designing the collector as shade, shelter, or public space gives it another use, weaving critical civic infrastructure directly into the social fabric of daily life.
Any such system still has to contend with the unpredictability of the atmosphere. Morocco provides an operational example where fog harvesting has moved beyond the speculative drawing board into a functioning regional water system. At Sidi Ifni, on the Atlantic coast, fog is collected at Boutmezguida mountain, approximately 35 meters inland from the ocean, and channeled into a wider network serving local communities. A 2024 assessment of the project describes it as the world’s largest fog-collection project and evaluates its water output, water quality, and community participation.
The project’s output varies substantially across the year. Over four years, annual average collection ranged between 1.6 and 6 liters per square meter per day. During the fog season, March and April produced an average of 8.5 liters per square meter per day, while the highest monthly figure recorded was 21 liters per square meter per day in April 2021. Fog occurred throughout the year, but its frequency varied significantly, making storage and supplementary supply vital components of the system.
Collection is only one component of the overarching infrastructure. Water has to be captured, stored, treated, and distributed. The community also has to participate in maintaining and using the infrastructure effectively. Researchers identify fog-yield variability and groundwater pollution among the project’s principal challenges, warning that relying on fog as the sole source could result in inconsistent water availability.
Research into atmospheric water harvesting on building façades suggests that the building envelope could become an active collection surface. Orientation, surface area, material properties, and exposure to air all become environmental design variables. Sorption-based systems, in particular, have been identified as promising for integration into building envelopes, although current research still identifies low technology-readiness and manufacturing costs as significant barriers to widespread adoption.
A water-harvesting façade would sit between interior and exterior environments while also responding to air movement and collecting water from the surrounding atmosphere. Roofs could become condensation surfaces, screens could become fog collectors, and courtyards could incorporate both collection and storage. Structures could also provide shade where their collection systems need to remain exposed to prevailing winds and moisture-laden air.
Architecture cannot design the atmosphere itself. It can orient a collector toward prevailing fog, increase its surface area, provide storage, and reduce dependence on distant infrastructure. Yet it cannot guarantee that fog will arrive on schedule. In practice, atmospheric water would need to operate alongside storage, treatment, and conventional supply systems to ensure a reliable baseline.
At Al-Hadalat, the fog tower combines collection with shade and gathering space. At Sidi Ifni, collection forms part of a larger system of storage, treatment, and distribution. At the building scale, façades can collect water while continuing to control heat, light, and air, proving that atmospheric harvesting can be multi-functional.
Architecture has always responded to the atmosphere by keeping rain out, tempering heat, admitting daylight, and directing air currents. Atmospheric water harvesting adds another task: collecting water from the very same atmospheric conditions that buildings already negotiate. Atmospheric water harvesting works as part of a wider water network, adding another source whose performance depends intimately on climate, exposure, storage, and maintenance.
