Our plumbing, ourselves : a public bath house

Abstract

Cleansing for being well Cleansing for well being. This thesis will consider: --how developments in plumbing and sewage and their related fixtures, kitchens and baths, parallel cultural changes throughout history. Though these relationships are not necessarily causal, they may indicate what (critical) roles rituals in contemporary baths can take within the framework of today's socio-economic systems; -- notions of bathing for hygiene and bathing for rejuvenation. The first might be considered a 'process of elimination' while the latter a 'process of preservation'. The two are not necessarily exclusive, but there are differences between them. One involves the removal of things such as dirt, germs, and wastes while the other involves the revitalization of the spirit and body; and -- issues involving the decline of public space, security, control, and gentrification, particularly in relation to the items mentioned above. These topics are currently the highlight of many discussions and writings in architecture with today's impending conditions of homelessness, urban strife, changing domestic structure, and domestic violence. through written background and discussion as well as the design of a public bath house