Studio 33

Bathhouse

Richard Fleming and Anja de Spa

Studio Description

To bathe is to wash by immersing one’s body in water.

The typology of the Bathhouse has a rich history. Almost every culture developed a communal bathing facility, with its own rituals and formal propositions. In our increasingly disconnected society, the community needs facilities that promote wellness, enabling not only the healing of our individual souls but also the opportunity to connect with nature.

The site is nominated as the vast tract of wasteland under the Melbourne Gateway adjacent to the Moonee Ponds Creek. The site is rich in potential but it has suffered from years of neglect. Detailed site analysis will be undertaken to understand the history, cultural significance and the potential for regeneration.

Students will develop sensitive and considered works of architecture as well as exploring the broad revitalisation of a disused parcel of inner-city land.

Studio Outcomes

The initial sessions will focus on analysis and testing. The approach will be an expansive research-based study focussing on site and typology. Site investigations, analogue design exercises and guest lectures will tease out the maximum potential of your project. Sketch drawing, orthographic drawing and physical model making will be required components. We will follow an iterative and methodical approach to test, analyse and develop these ideas before determining a single point of focus.

Students will then develop their propositions individually, culminating in the detailed exploration of a single architectural composition, a contemporary bathhouse. You will be required to develop schemes that test an ambition and go beyond the default. We are seeking propositions that explore the sublime, offering a spiritual refuge. We will interrogate the threshold between building and landscape to create a project that is of its place. Functional analysis of the brief and resolution of use and planning are critical – including conceptual intentions of tectonics, materiality, sustainability and structural logic.

We require that each student is actively engaged to question everything - question the brief, question the site, question the typology. Student’s final presentation outcomes will be required to comply with specified communication tools, continuing the expectations present throughout semester of iterative and journaled working methods and carefully considered architectural representations of their proposals.

Reading & Reference

• Atmospheres – Peter Zumthor 2006
• Thermes Vals – Peter Zumthor 2007
• The Concise Townscape – Gordon Cullen 1961
• The Architectural Review – Typology Bathhouse, Tom Wilkinson 13 Feb 2018
• Repair: The Catalogue – AIA Venice Biennale Catalogue 2018
• Places We Swim – Dillon Seitchik-Reardon & Caroline Clements 2018
• Pool, The: Architecture, Culture and identity in Australia – AIA Venice Biennale Catalogue 2016
• Glenn Murcutt: Thinking Drawing / Working Drawing 2018

Travel There will be a group visit to the site during week 2, to conduct individual site analysis, site sketches and take photographs. We will be travelling via public transport from MSD to the site. Duration of visit 4 hours.

Schedule 1:30-5:30PM Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in MSD Room 241

Contact Handbook Key Dates