CRITIC / STEPHANIE BAYARD

COMPLETED / FALL 2012

This program is a contemporary take on the public bath house, which could be understood alternatively, a sort of urban “watering hole”, as a speculative infrastructural/social program that is a structure or structures that will house bathing facilities, bathrooms, a public drinking water supply, and other water features. Public bath houses have a rich and varied history throughout urban life in many cultures, including Roman, Turkish, Japanese, Scandinavian and Jewish. In New York, The Asser Levy Public Baths is a notable example of the important hygenic and social role that baths played in the city in the first hall of the 20th century.

As part of the infrastructural role that this program can play, sustainable aspects of water including grey water treatment and runoff collection may be considered as part of the program. The program can also be understood as the design of gradient conditions of open to enclosed, wet to dry, warm to cool and public to private.