Garden Bath etc.

HM of London Urban Retreat: Haggerston Public Baths

+ HONOURABLE MENTION

London Urban Retreat: Haggerston Public Baths

[20433]

Garden Bath etc.

Team

Name: Jose Ortega

Instagram: @joseorteg

Nationality: United States, Spain

Institution / Company: Cornell AAP

Name: Ryan Wang

Instagram: @ryanw.arch

Nationality: Australia

Institution / Company: Cornell AAP

Name: Vincent Pu Zhang

Instagram: @vincentpuzhang

Nationality: China

Institution / Company: Columbia GSAAP

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In 1904, architect Alfred Cross designed Haggerston Baths as a public amenity for a working-class neighborhood lacking adequate bathing facilities. Our project began with the rediscovery of the original architectural drawings.  We carefully studied the plans, sections, and elevations, observing conventions that classified the programs, circulation, and materiality.

A site visit revealed the need to preserve Haggerston’s residential character from London’s culture of congestion. The archival drawings thus became a tactic of invention, a method for reviving this abandoned urban bath into a heterotopic garden retreat. 

From these findings, the design began by reimagining the former swimming pool as a terraced indoor garden. Its slope became an introverted public passage between Laburnum Street and Whiston Road. A communal kitchen, accessible from the garden, supports everyday use and hosts local gatherings. In place of the former laundry and ironing rooms, a more intimate bathhouse is repurposed. Existing courtyards, identified in the 1904 ground-floor plan, frame glimpsed views between the pools, the trees, and the mediation room.

Together, the “Garden Bath etc.” reintroduce Haggerston Baths as a shared interior garden for the neighborhood, a sanctuary in the city of London.

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Jury Comments

– David Aldana

The concept was very academic and researched but it fails to translate to a succesful design. As a narrative, the historic aspect was the most important aspect but the project fails to incorporate the other elements of the baths history which is indeed the baths themselves. Making an indor garden is already a challenge due to the lack of natural light and from the section I see a lack of understanding from a landscape perspective – you cannot grow a 9 meter tree in 50cm of soil.

– Josefine Fokdal

Very sensitive to the historic buildings and the approach is nice, but is not conceptually strong – except from historic.