When Absence Is in Place

HM of London Urban Retreat: Haggerston Public Baths

+ HONOURABLE MENTION

London Urban Retreat: Haggerston Public Baths

[20107]

When Absence Is in Place: Architecture as a Social Trace

Team

Name: LIN, HSIN-JU

Instagram: hsin.ju

Nationality: Taiwan

Name: CHEN,NAI-CHUN

Instagram:nainai_jun

Nationality:Taiwan

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This project takes “the presence of absence” as its core concept, addressing the transformation of public architecture after the loss of its original function. As the former program ceases, the space is no longer clearly defined; instead, architectural absence becomes an active presence. This allows existing residents to retain connections to collective memory while creating opportunities for interaction with new inhabitants, transforming the building into a retreat that accommodates both activity and stillness.

The design preserves the original structural framework and selected functions. By reducing the scale of the swimming pool, released areas are converted into public spaces. Existing pool structures and intermediary floors are treated as traces of time, allowing absence to emerge as a new spatial condition.

Through the reorganization of circulation and functions, boundaries between dynamic and static, service and public spaces are blurred. Flexible shared areas encourage spontaneous encounters, while semi-transparent interfaces maintain visual continuity. The building is conceived as a permeable public interface, drawing everyday neighborhood activities inside. Through repeated bodily use, collective memory is reactivated as lived, embodied experience, allowing the architecture to remain present through transformation rather than completion.

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Jury Comments

– Josefine Fokdal

not well communicated and the bath is not included as I understand it.