Thinking of ways to reformulate architectural practice, this project investigates the possibilities of using bathing as a crucial form of relaxation, for mind and body, to reduce stress levels caused by working in an architecture office.

Located in an area where there is a strong cluster of well-known architectural forms, the building provides a home for three practices – each of around 15-20 people – alongside a range of public and semi-public baths for the employees and the wider public.

Situated along the Regent’s Canal, the design makes use of recycling water from the canal and incorporates a complex filtering system to collect and reuse rain. In addition to the baths, the building provides a canteen for the public and employees, so that people can relax, share ideas, and retreat from the city. Wearing its woven cladding panels like the armour of a samurai, the skin of the building can breathe in summer and winter, with the hot water steaming into the air on cold days.

Reimagining a practice of building that inverts the idea of human transcendence over the material world, leads to a new world where to discard is sin and materials are in constant metabolic flux.