B A T H HOUSE KELVINGROVE PARK P R E C E D E N T S T U D I E S
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02 Contents A Bath House in Kelvingrove Park 01 Historical Public Bathing Studies 1.1 Greco-Roman Baths 1.2 Finnish Baths 1.3 Japanese Baths 1.4 Turkish Baths 02
02 Precedent Studies
02 Contemporary Bathing Studies 2.1 Precedents
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01 HISTORICAL PUBLIC BATHING STUDIES
HISTORICAL PUBLIC BATHING STUDIES 01
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HISTORICAL STUDY
CLEANLINESS IS HEALTH The ancient Greeks and Romans had the wisdom and insight to know that bodily cleanliness was an essential component of good hygiene and good health. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe was plunged into Bathing is also a way of caring for and loving the body by taking good care of it. This ran counter to the Church’s prevailing attitude of ascetic denial and despising of the body and its needs. BATHING: A WAY OF LIFE The most important thing to understand about the classical approach to bathing is that it was a way of life. The Greek and Roman baths incorporated not only the mere cleansing of the body, but also exercise and sports, socializing, lectures and entertainment, and even snacks and delicacies. Most importantly, it was a great way to relax and chill out after a hard day’s work. The Romans are most famous for the magnificent baths they built, like the imperial baths at Caracalla; they were perhaps the most ardent devotees of the bath. But the Greeks also loved bathing, although the baths they constructed were much simpler affairs. In the ancient Greek baths, we can see the origins of the later Roman baths.
heated in a fire, which were then brought into the bath with pitchforks and placed into a central tray. Water was then poured onto the hot rocks to create steam. At the Roman public baths, bathers would usually first soak in the warm waters of the Tepidarium bath to relax and unwind. Once the body was relaxed, and the pores had started to open, the bather then entered into the pool of the Caldarium, where water temperatures could reach 40o C or more. And finally, a quick dip into the cold water pool of a Frigidarium was needed to brace the body and close the pores. HEALING SPAS AND CURATIVE WATERS The ancient Greeks were great believers in the therapeutic powers of bathing. The ancient Greeks also used medicinal baths of minerals, salts and herbal infusions for therapeutic purposes.
Nowadays, bathing is a private matter for most people, as most homes have their own lavatory and bathing facilities, but in ancient times, bathing was a communal affair. TYPES OF BATHS An ancient Greek steam bath was called a Laconia. It was usually a circular room with a large, conical domed roof. It was heated either by fires underneath the floor, or by rocks
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GRECO-ROMAN BATHS
Greco-Roman Baths
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HISTORICAL STUDY
The sauna has always been important for Finns. It has a long history, going back at least a thousand years. Originally the sauna was a place to bathe, but as it was the only available clean place with abundant water, it has also been a place for giving birth and healing the sick. There are today an estimated 2 million saunas in Finland, 1.2 million of which are in private apartments and the rest in summer cottages, hotels and public swimming pools. Quite something for a population of 5 million. THE FIRST SAUNAS The nomad people wandering around what later became Finland already had primitive saunas. They heated holes in the ground and covered them with a tarp to have a warm place for bathing. Such a hot room would later evolve into the smoke sauna, the most traditional form of modern saunas. A smoke sauna has a fireplace with no chimney; the fire heats the stones directly and the smoke exits the room through a small hole just below the roof.
The stones store heat energy, which can then be released by throwing water on them during bathing. Most modern heaters use electricity since it is easy and relatively cheap, but many still prefer wood heaters. The feeling in a wood-heated sauna is somewhat different from that of an electric sauna. The wooden sauna has lately won new appreciation and the art of building wood-heated saunas, even smoke saunas has been revived. SAUNAS IN THE HOME Saunas were originally separated from the main house. The sauna building was often a single room, used both for washing and warming up on the high benches. As living standards evolved, the washing room was separated from the hot room. Running water made washing easier, and allowed placement away from water sources such as lakes or wells. In many modern Finnish houses the sauna is a main part of the bathroom, nearly all apartments are built with saunas.
HEATERS While smoke saunas have a very pleasant heat, the smoke has obvious problems. For example, the room is covered with soot and benches have to be cleaned before each bath. Also, smoke saunas have a strong tendency to burn down because it is difficult to control the open fireplace. The first chimneys were metal cones on top of the fireplace directing the smoke out of the room. Modern heaters have a metal casing and a chimney, but still have stones to retain the heat. Keeping the room hot for a long time is not simple and requires a lot of energy.
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FINNISH BATHS
Finnish Baths
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HISTORICAL STUDY Japanese Baths
Traditionally, the Japanese sento has been segregated with male and female bathing areas divided by a partition wall. The central bathing facility consists of a warm bath, large enough to accommodate many bathers at a time. There are often adjoining rooms with saunas or steam baths which are accompanied by plunge pools or cold baths like those in the West. Since the second half of the 20th century, these communal bath houses have been decreasing in numbers as more and more Japanese residences now have baths. Some Japanese find social importance in going to public baths, out of the theory that physical proximity/intimacy brings emotional intimacy, which is termed skinship in pseudoEnglish Japanese. Others go to a sentō because they live in a small housing facility without a private bath or to enjoy bathing in a spacious room and to relax in saunas or jet baths that often accompany new or renovated sentōs. ONSEN An onsen is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth. Onsen were traditionally used as public bathing places and today play a central role in directing Japanese domestic tourism.
bed and breakfast. Onsen are a central feature of Japanese tourism often found out in the countryside but there are a number of popular establishments still found within major cities. They are a major tourist attraction drawing Japanese couples, families or company groups who want to get away from the hectic life of the city to relax. Japanese often talk of the virtues of “naked communion” for breaking down barriers and getting to know people in the relaxed homey atmosphere of a ryokan with an attached onsen. Traditionally, onsen were located outdoors, although a large number of inns have now built indoor bathing facilities as well. Onsen by definition use naturally hot water from geothermally heated springs. Onsen should be differentiated from sentō, indoor public bath houses where the baths are filled with heated tap water. The legal definition of an onsen includes that its water must contain at least one of 19 designated chemical elements, including radon and metabolic acid and be 25 °C or warmer before being reheated. Onsen water is believed to have healing powers derived from its mineral content. A particular onsen may feature several different baths, each with water with a different mineral composition.
Onsen come in many types and shapes, including outdoor and indoor baths. Baths may be either public run by a municipality or private often run as part of a hotel, ryokan or
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JAPANESE BATHS
SENTO Sentō is a type of Japanese communal bath house where customers pay for entrance.
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HISTORICAL STUDY
A Turkish bath (or hamam) is the Turkish variant of the Roman bath, steambath, sauna, or Russian banya, distinguished by a focus on water, as distinct from ambient steam. In Western Europe, the “Turkish bath� as a method of cleansing and relaxation became popular during the Victorian era. The process involved in taking a Turkish bath is similar to that of a sauna, but is more closely related to ancient Greek and ancient Roman bathing practices. The Turkish bath starts with a relaxation in a room (known as the warm room) that is heated by a continuous flow of hot, dry air, allowing the bather to perspire freely. Bathers may then move to an even hotter room (known as the hot room) before they wash in cold water. After performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation.
Next follows a thorough sudsing and rubdown with soap, worked into a profuse lather. Then, you are dowsed again and rinsed of the suds. A second sudsing and lathering follows, followed by a second rinse. Then, you soak in a hot tub, or lie on a warm marble slab to relax and chill out. If you wish, you may receive a massage with fragrant, scented medicinal oils. When you come out, you feel thoroughly refreshed, revitalized and thoroughly clean.
The differences between the Islamic hammam and the Victorian Turkish bath is the air. The hot air in the Victorian Turkish bath is dry; in the Islamic hammam the air is often steamy. The bather in a Victorian Turkish bath will often take a plunge in a cold pool after the hot rooms; the Islamic hammam usually does not have a pool unless the water is flowing from a spring. In the Islamic hammams the bathers splash themselves with cold water. Today, the process of using the hammam is similar. First, you are given a towel, some soap, a key, and a cloth skirt, or wrap. You enter a private cubicle and undress, wrapping yourself in the wrap. Then, you enter the main room of the bath. You are doused with water, then rubbed with mitts of coarse muslin cloth to rub off the residual dead skin.
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TURKISH BATHS
Turkish Baths
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02 CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC BATHING STUDIES
CONTEMPORARY BATHING PRECEDENTS 02
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CONTEMPORARY PRECEDENTS
Precedents
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