Bathing level 1/200

Thermal bath Vals (1993-1996) : Peter Zumthor

Elke VindevoghelHeidi VerhelleDini Versteynen

Technische component 4 Aad(b) 2009/2010

Docent: Caroline Voet

Circulation

special light effects

in-between spaces

housing

public spaces

non physical boundaries

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Block structure with ceiling joint and fissures

Block structure of bathing level

Block sturucture with basins and water gulleys

Block structure of therapy level

Out of the eastern flank of the mountains of Vals rises a spring with warm water of 30°C. Next to the spring was once a modest spa hotel built in 1893. The hotel already had some bathing cabins and shower rooms. Around 1960, this hotel was replaced by a second thermal bath complex. The 1960s spa was simply built. Although it suffered from architectural and technical problems, it had a straightforward presence.This second spa became outdated and was replaced by a new thermal bath at the end of 1996. Peter Zumthor was asked by the community to design a new thermal complex. The building is set apart from the hotel into the sloping southwest corner of the terrain. It is accessible via a subterranean passage leading from the hotel.

The interior as a hollowed out continuous space.

Did he built into the mountain or out of the mountain, is the building set inside the mountain or is it part of the mountain? It takes the form of a large grass-covered stone object set deep into the mountain. One gets the idea that the slope is hollowed out of the mountain and the stone is put there instead. Because of its solitary character and his special relationship with the mountain and the landscape, the visitor feels as if the new building is older than its existing neighbour, like it has always been present in this landscape.

Also, the stone object is made of smaller stones: Vals gneiss that was found 1000 meters further in the valley. They were transported to the site and built back into the same slope. This material is used in a way that makes the buil-ding look monolithic, like a homogenous stone mass. All the technical solutions, pool-and expansion joints have been designed to reinforce the monolithic, homogenous presence of the structure as a whole. Their will only be a small number of basic details which can be explained quite directly by their use, such as water channels hewn out of the stone floor, the handrail or the pipes punched through the masonry to carry thermal waters to the different basins. Circulation areas, pool floors, ceiling, stairs, stone benches, door openings - all details are developed out of the same principle: one stone layer on top of another.

It seems as they are randomly applied on the concrete walls. But actually, one layer is a system of three stones with a height of 15cm and 1m length. This technique, which the construction workers have dubbed ‘Vals composite masonry’, was specially developed for the building. The transitions from floor to wall and from wall to ceiling are all detailed in that way.

Next to the hollowing out of the slope, there are two other levels of hollowing out the architect used as a design method for his building. The interior is a continuous space; there are no real physical borders so the whole interior is fordable. The in-between space meanders through a structure of large blocks, like a cave system. These continuous spaces are the served spaces. It looks like the space is cut out of the cave and the blocks are what’s left, but in reality the blocks are added to the construction. The open space between the blocks can be seen as meanders that grow in size as they move away from the narrow caverns by the mountain towards the daylight to the front. At the front façade the perception changes: the outside world penetrates through the large openings into the baths. The building resembles a large porous stone. The third level contains the interior blocks which are also hollowed out. The architect plays with cavities and mass, negative and posi-tive. These blocks contain the serving spaces, each with its own name, function and atmosphere: sweat stone, shower stone, massage block, drinking fountain stone, rest space, fire bath, flower bath, cold bath, sounding stone…

creating poetry with stone, water, light and noise.

Peter Zumthor always starts his design with an idea and the idea comes with a picture and a physical event he has in his mind. He doesn’t start just from an abstract idea. During the process the image becomes architecture.

In Vals, right from the start, there was a feeling for the mystical nature of a world of stone inside the mountain, for darkness and light, for the reflection of light upon wa-ter, for the diffusion of light through steam-filled air, for the different sounds that water makes in stone surroundings, for warm stone and naked skin, for the ritual of bathing. It relies on the silent, primary experiences of bathing, cleansing oneself, relaxing in the water; on the body’s contact with water at different temperatures and in different kinds of spaces; on touching the stone. From the start, there was the pleasure of working with these things, of consciously bringing them into play.

The design process was one of playful and patient exploration: the construction is built up by fifteen different modules, each containing a block and a concrete ceiling slab. Between the individual ceiling slabs there are narrow gaps where the daylight filters through. The narrow gaps form lines who sometimes follow the contours of the blocks. When the light lines come together in one point, the light glides down from the wall as if there was a spot placed in the ceiling. In the indoor bath there are small square fis-sures in the ceiling with blue artificial lights, which give a calm and serene atmosphere.

‘relaxed bathing in a world of light and stone’