Re-Pacing

FINALIST of London Urban Retreat: Haggerston Public Baths

+ FINALIST

London Urban Retreat: Haggerston Public Baths

[20030]

Re-Pacing

Team

Name: Yu-Jhen Shih

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a91234tww/

Nationality: Taiwan

Institution / Company: Architectural Association

Name: Yi-An Tseng

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yiantseng_/

Nationality: Taiwan

Institution / Company: Delft University of Technology

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An urban retreat, rather than a simple withdrawal from society, constitutes a resilient act that nurtures both personal equilibrium and collective care. Situated at the neighbourhood scale, it operates as an alternative to formal healthcare institutions, proposing instead a civic environment that mediates between individual recovery and social reconnection. The retreat then becomes where the balance between body and mind is cultivated, offering a chance for individuals to re-pace at any moment they need. 

The architectural strategy employs both vertical and spatial hierarchies to choreograph a gradual transition from public engagement to personal introspection. By relocating the entrance to the west side adjacent to the chimney, the transition from collective to individual is orchestrated west-to-east through the calibrated use of translucent materials. By linking the ground and first floors through courtyards, bridges, and outward-projecting platforms, spatial continuity is defined by these intermediary elements. This indirect interaction allows occupants to register a deliberate slowing of pace as they circulate through the building. Through this spatially mediated process of decompression, the retreat evolves from an act of withdrawal into an urban experience of reflection and renewal, where architecture becomes an active agent in reconstructing both individual resilience and forms of social empathy.

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Jury Comments

– Josefine Fokdal

Nice idea but not conveniently communicated.