De Moderne Baden (The Modern Baths)

University of the West of England, Faculty of the Built Environment, Frenchay Campus, Bristol

Project idea

De Moderne Baden is the final scheme produced in my 2nd year. It is a public water culture centre inspired by the traditional way the Romans bath. It is a proposal that tends to explore a journey of the past in a modern world, the idea is to bring the journey of bath¬ing as a Roman Person during the ancient times into the world that is today and give the user an experience that is com¬pletely secluded from the public to cre¬ate a sense of mystery to the building.
The design and construction of it fol¬lows a transition with the modern baths being that of ancient times, an attempt at constructing it load bearing. The middle part of the building is the transition¬ing, new innovations, hence the glass frame. The building that accommodates the exhibition has a modern approach to it, with different materials to make the structure and layout in a modern style.
The building is brutal; chaos is slowly unleashed but heavily seeks control with symmetry (main corridors), framing (win¬dows are mostly skylights), and privacy (only one entrance).

Project description

The proposal, as the name suggests centres around De Moderne Baden (The Modern Baths in Dutch). The reason why it is De Moderne Baden and not taking into account all the other parts of the building is because it is the central point of the concept. Just like the Romans in their time, the baths are the central place with other places of entertainment such as a library and restaurant that accompany the central baths. In a modern approach, the building is divided into three parts. The building on the right accommodates the baths on the ground floor. The building on the left accommodates the rest of the services, the shop, welcome area, (on the ground floor), the exhibition (first floor) and preserving the views for the cafe on the second floor. And the building in the middle serves as the connection between both buildings.

Technical information

With water acting as the hybrid element in this project, water is the main mov¬ing factor that controls and affects the building. It is an interactive element in the baths but non-interactive in the ex¬hibition. On the other hand, water is an element that is used in the hybrid ecolo¬gy of the building to bring in water that is cleaned and circulated and even ex¬plored as a renewable resource of energy. Water here, acts not just as a renewable element, used in water filtration systems, rainwater col¬lection etc. But it is also used as an interactive element. It becomes the centre element that brings people together in this building; to experience water like nothing before. Whilst most of the technical parts of water as an interactive element are rather hidden from the public, the output/end result is there for the public to experience, whether that be in the ex¬hibition spaces or the baths themselves. And that healthy water experience continues all the way through to the canal where water and nature serve as vessels to not just improving sustainable life in spike island but also mental health in its es¬sence.