A Public Bath in Alexandria, Virginia: Body, Water, and Architecture

Abstract

This thesis investigation and design project were driven by the desire to develop and understand how body relates nature through tectonic objects. I explore how body reacts to different thermal and moisture condition from architectural elements in order to examine the relationship between body and objects. Any physical form will be meaningless if it cannot transmit the presence of nature and cosmos by way of image and totality of experience into the human habitation with concrete objects. Furthermore, when the body perceives the cosmos through tangible objects then those objects become significant life form. Through the process of experience on different types of water treatment, it reveals the way of transforming and communicating between invisible sense in body and tangible substance in cosmos. The bathhouse design is a record of the process that exposes the connections between human perception and universal materiality through tectonic objects.