| Research: Ecological Spa Washington University Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design Principal Investigators: Terreform, Mitchell Joachim, Ph.D. Graduate Researchers: Hsin Yi Chiu, Sarah Stanton, Pooja M. Sharma, Jennifer L. Cayton, James G. Morrison, Norma Yancey, Monling Lee, Laura Bauers, Krista Lombardi, David Peter Scherling, Min Tak Cheung, Ian Towle, Ya-Ju Hsieh "Every man is the builder of a temple called his body." - Henry David Thoreau Case Studies: 1. Finnish Sauna: www.lebauers.com/spa1 2. Roman Baths: www.davidscherling.com/spa1 3. Fountain of Youth: www.normayancey.com/spa1 4. Japanese Sento: www.archimintak.com/spa1 5. Onsen Hot Springs: www.kristalombardi.com/spa1 6. Spa Traditions in the Black Sea Region: www.jenniferhendrichcayton.com\spa1 7. Aromatherapy: www.chyed.com/spa001 8. American Indian Sweat Lodge: www.iantowle.com/sweat_lodge.htm 9. Bath-Gymnasium Complex at Sardis: www.archimatic.org/Spa_Precedent_01 10. Hydrology/ Hypocaust: www.sarahannestanton.com/spa1 11. Intellect Wellness and Pleasure: www.monlinglee.com/spa1 12. Garden of Eden: www.yajuhsieh.com/SPA1 13. Longetivity, Ayurveda, Yoga: http://www.pooja1.com/profile.htm 14. ISA: International Spa Association Anguilla Spa Studio Description: Our intention is to ecologically interweave an esthetically luminous, world-centered spa located in Anguilla. Human wellness is rapidly on the rise on this Caribbean island. The minute locale of Anguilla is unparalleled for its collection of magnificently plush, yet casually minimal five-star resort spas. Here is the place for the intersection of pleasure and cure. It is a perfect heaven for relaxation, seemingly liberated from the dark global realities that surround such escapist agendas. Consciousness and environment are well tended in a few local spas with a selection of autonomous facilities, treatments, and fitness providers. Possibilities range from clusters of water-orientated villas to a metabolically self-sufficient micro village. Spa, as an architectural program, is often associated with benign ecological premises. However, the essential idea of a leisure spa as a program for health is arguably a self-indulgent. How can societies be so concerned with their own individual health when the environments we occupy contribute to our ailments? Until recently the space of wellbeing was largely concerned with anthropocentric requirements. Sustainability advocates have cultured a fundamental shift towards holistic enterprises. In a context of end users being non-productive, what ensues ecologically? Does pursuit of leisure fail to compensate inside our super-organism? By adding a medicinal factor, the spa programmatic posture is altered. The possibility of relaxation can be enhanced with the knowledge that doing less is doing more. How can we account environmentally for a mixed prototype of health and leisure? Objective: Our goal is to create a spa that makes a true spectacle of ecology. Making ecologies visible in design technology and practice is vastly significant. To reveal an eco-system for a given individual imparts the didactics for designing sustainability. We do this by tracing the paths of nature. Our spa should cultivate explorations within deep ecology to retrieve the wisdom in mosaics, connectivity, biodiversity, patches, and matrices. The first signal of humanist intent is our complex ensemble of design. Any well designed edifice demands a supposition of possibilities and interpretations. Green design seeks a genius loci revealed in both the struggle and the fellowship of numerous augmented assemblies. Designing across scales from turbulent urban regions to backyard gardens requires a filter of reason. This spa must qualify and disseminate these egalitarian practices. Qualified by techno-scientific methods and routines, it is vital to admit that the practice of green architecture is still at length a craft. Guidelines: According to the International SPA Association, "A destination spa is a facility with the primary purpose of guiding individual spa-goers to develop healthy habits. Historically a seven-day stay, this lifestyle transformation can be accomplished by providing a comprehensive program that includes spa services, physical fitness activities, wellness education, healthful cuisine and special interest programming." The architectural history of spa culture stems from ways ancient civilizations utilized the thermal effects of the waters. The Romans understood time and temperature as the systematic application of rhythms and rituals for warming, heating and cooling the body. The Roman thermae included several distinct internal typological features placed within a sequential space and built to maintain different temperature levels. Programs for the Roman thermal spa spaces typically included: - Vestibule (entrance) - Apodyterium (changing rooms and lounge) - Palaestra (exercise yard) - Tepidarium (warming rooms) - Caladarium (main hot room) - Laconicum (sweating room) - Frigidarium (cold-water bathing hall for cooling off) - Natatio (large swimming pool) Our program will not necessarily follow the historical notion of spa. Instead it will seek to re-think the concept entirely, privileging the local ecology of Anguilla. The site is eight plus acres of waterfront property located on the eastern portion of the island. We are seeking a proposal that includes, but is not limited to, twelve eco-villas, an administration building, a waterfront public space, and other amenities. Notes: Etymologically, spa is traced from the Latin verb "spargere," to pour forth. Also, the acronym S.P.A., referring to salus per aqua (health through water), has been deciphered on the brick walls of numerous Roman thermal establishments. The English word spa derives form the Walloon "espa," fountain. Spa was used to identify hot mineral springs discovered to possess therapeutic and medicinal values. Shortly thereafter, pools were built in Spa, Belgium. Around 1550, William Slings by discovered the sulfur springs of Tewhit near Harrogate, England, and compared these natural sulfur mineral fountains to those found in Belgium. Hence, the English word for spa. Suggested Readings: Elizabeth, Lynne and Adams ,Cassandra (Eds). Alternative Construction: Contemporary Natural Building Methods. Wiley. New York, NY, 2000. Foucault, Michel. Birth of the Clinic, The: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. Vintage, 1994. McDonough, William & Braungart, Michael. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. North Point Press; 1st ed., 2002. Rees, Williams E. Testemale, Phil, Wackernagel, Mathis, Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. New Society Pub, 1995. Rudofsky, Bernard. Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture. University of New Mexico Press, 1987. Sorkin, Michael. Local Code: The Constitution of a City at 42 Degrees N Latitude. Princeton Architectural Press, 1994. Tuan, Yi-Fu. Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes and Values. Columbia University Press, 1990. |
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