De Moderne Baden

De Moderne Baden is a public water culture centre inspired by the traditional Roman bath. It is a proposal that explores a journey of the past in a modern world, the idea is to bring the journey of bathing as a Roman person during the ancient times into the world today and give the user an experience that is completely secluded from the public to create a sense of mystery to the building.
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The building is brutal; chaos is slowly unleashed but seeks control with symmetry (main corridors), framing (windows are mostly skylights), and privacy (only one entrance). In a modern approach, the building is divided into three parts. The building on the right accommodates the baths. The building on the left accommodates the rest of the services; the shop, a welcome area and an exhibition space, preserving the views for the cafe on the second floor. The middle building serves as the connection between both buildings.

With water acting as the hybrid element in this project, water is the main moving factor that controls and affects the building. It is an interactive element in the baths but non-interactive in the exhibition. Water enters from the river through an opening in the mass concrete wall (as there are no tides in the river) to be filtered through the various rocks (sand filtration system) and then taken into reverse osmosis. Water temperature is automatically regulated with the surface area it covers as a pool. The same applies for the rain water collected from the grass in the steps and trees. The baths at the centre do not just act as form of experience but also serve as a means of collecting clean water for the baths.