Drawing Divine Water: Analyzing the Nuragic Holy Wells of Sardinia

The Nuragic water temples of Sardinia offer an example of infrastructural design that indexes resource scarcity, constructs public space, and reveals networks at the architectural scale. Their design makes legible the constraints, contexts, and multivalent opportunities that shape infrastructure’s performance. Supported by a 2023 Auburn University CADC seed grant, I traveled to Sardinia to visit, document, and draw these wells, examining how designers might learn from past vernacular practices to imagine and choreograph new encounters among infrastructure, architecture, and the contemporary city. This research resulted in conference proceedings and a 2024 presentation at Architecture Media Politics and Society in Barcelona.