All cultures have a tradition of ritualised communal bathing - Sentos in Japan, banyas in Russia, thermae in ancient Rome, hammams in the Middle East. They functioned to prevent the spread of disease, offering access to sanitisation. They are also social spaces, that collectivise a shared part of being human. 

In a post covid world, the relationship between personal health and the community is layered. On the one hand the individual’s health becomes the concern of the collective. While on the other we isolate and become increasingly suspicious of ‘the other.’ There becomes an absence of spaces for community life to occur. 

The architectural approach considers the current built form as a block to hollow out, expanding the space for activity and habitation. Offering surprising enclaves of retreat and pause. 

The spatial organisation plays with how a space can be shared and sheltered. Men and women share modes of circulation, and separate in spaces for programme. Moving synchronistically but apart. Movement is directional and ritualised.