Peat Baths

Wormerveer, The Netherlands

2017

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The concept was to explore the peat nature of a polder reflecting on its archaic essence. Bog bodies are famous for well-preserved skin…and in some cultures giving birth in a bog is believed to be beneficial for the health of a newborn. That relation peat has with birth and death inspired for proposing a baths facility centered around the therapeutic qualities of peat.

The proposal is to connect the station to a nearby island via a boat dock. The platform would become a boardwalk along the water offering visitors upon arrival a lateral experience of the landscape. The island would offer the opportunity of feeling in the middle of nature yet with a dimension of isolation suggesting an atmosphere of exclusion and privacy. On the island, instead of one closed space (building)…the visitors roam around opaque and transparent masses resembling the chambers of a typical hammam…offering an experience of rituals and exploration.