Negative space

FINALIST of London Urban Retreat: Haggerston Public Baths

+ FINALIST

London Urban Retreat: Haggerston Public Baths

[19835]

Negative space

Team

Name: Vasileva Ekaterina Alekseevna

Instagram: wheeeelerrr

Nationality: Russian

Institution: Architecture students (Moscow Architectural Institute)

Name: Efimova Alena Viktorovna

Instagram: wheeeelerrr

Nationality: Russian

Institution: Architecture students (Moscow Architectural Institute)

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The project idea emerged during the analysis of the city and its impact on humans. We realized that familiar urban elements such as buildings, vehicles, advertising, and flows of people—over time—transform into visual noise, creating psychological pressure on a person.

From this perspective, the city appears as a combination of positive space (filled with material objects) and negative space (volumes of air surrounding these objects), which remains unconscious. The reconstruction of the Haggerston Baths became an attempt to embody negative space within the city—a place where one can shelter from visual and sensory noise, where silence and emptiness prevail. The building maintains a connection with the urban environment while placing the visitor in negative space that flows around functional structures.

The facade is preserved in its original form with restoration works as a sign of respect for the historical heritage of the object, while the interior undergoes radical transformation with an emphasis on air space.

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Jury Comments

– Josefine Fokdal

This project has a nice map of the city, however, it does not connect well with the rest of the drawings and the old Bath House is barely recognisable on the map. The complexity of the proposal is rather low.