TYPE:

Commercial / Civic

DESCRIPTION:

The program we were given to address was a rural bathhouse that responded to a traditional type of bathhouse with a heavy focus on tectonics and structure. Then, after researching how they were historically used and traditionally built, we were given the task of designing our own. From the four, I chose the Finnish Sauna and sought to address the typology of this building in a uniquely foreign location. I sought to design a building that would integrate into the landscape and while still retaining the ability to be a destination landmark.

The concept behind the arrangement and order of this building centers on a seemingly random arrangement of turns. At first glance, the bathhouse seems a random, unfounded organization of manipulated masses created solely by the hand of the designer. But upon closer inspection, we see that there is order. The order of the forms derives from the site. The concept is born out of the intersecting lines between the native trees. The overall flowing shape of the building is a response to the path of the river. Through being sunk into the earth, it plays and interacts with that which defines it, nature.

The sauna is constructed of a traditional silver birch and acts as an intermediary between the two concrete cleansing gates. As you enter the bathhouse you drive down a ramp into a covered parking lot that feeds directly into the entrance lobby.