shinto bathhouse

the 'shinto bathhouse' is a response to a brief which asked for an architecture based in ritual. the Japanese religion, Shinto, is one that speaks of everyday living as well as exercising the celebration of particular events which occur in a person's life. the everyday ritual of clean(s)ing oneself is important to Shinto culture and is one that is not as celebrated in much Western culture, let alone New Zealand's.

by inserting this shinto bathhouse alongside the newly-created Wellington bypass, a resulting tension is created where the placement of the architecture's volumes suggests an intense slowing-down, countering the constant movement of vehicular traffic.

as the use of the bathhouse is ritualistic in itself (changing; cleaning; then bathing - in gradually hotter temperatures of water; then tea or massage) program is placed accordingly. it effectively creates a linear experience of site and ritual; while the planting of the site acts as a secondary buffer to the insistent bypass and the hard nature of the city.