Precedent Study – Project 2

2012

The act of bathing constituted one of the most important rituals of daily life in Roman times. It was of such complexity that it required a relatively large building for the different stages of the process to take place. Baths were also places for social interaction similar to the contemporary community centre, where it was common to find libraries, reading rooms, food and open spaces for exercise. This model later influenced the islamic bath or Hammam, which in turn was the source of inspiration for the Victorian Baths and contemporary spas. 

One common theme threading the evolution of these buildings, is the sequence of spaces associated with the different types of sensorial conditions that the bathers experience as they go through the process of cleansing.

For the Precedent Study the task was to develop an interpretative analysis of a representative example, covering aspects such as temperature, humidity and light to describe the different spaces.