Exhibition design by Kellenberger-White in Zaha Hadid Architects' Roca London Gallery
Soak, Steam, Dream: Reinventing Bathing Culture, Roca London Gallery, 2016 – 2017
Commissioned by Roca as part of their architecture and design programme, the exhibition Soak, Steam, Dream: Reinventing Bathing Culture charted the emergence of a new bathhouse culture – and the connection between the physical and social aspects of bathing – through a series of contemporary bathing projects and an archive exploring ancient bathing rituals. Designed by Kellenberger-White, the installation helped materialise the pagan and sensorial aspects of bathing and water cultures.
Photography Thomas Adank
Exhibition fixtures made from clay and wood brought the materiality of the bathhouse to life
One of 3 themes in the exhibition, Steam explored the history and reinvention of the sauna on a table made from Douglas Fir
Model for a sauna in a tower by H3T Architekti
An archive explored the history of bathing from the Roman thermae to the Islamic hamam
Archive of publications by bathing aficionado Leonard Koren
Wet: the Magazine of Gourmet Bathing, Sep/Oct 1981 by
Leonard Koren
The first theme, Soak, displayed on fixtures made of clay
Soak explored the history of thermal springs and contemporary interpretations, Therme Vals and Termas Geometricas
Japanese onsen: Kogohi Bathhouse, Kengo Kuma & Associates; Lamune Onsen, Terunobu Fujimori
Steam, the second theme, explored the Finnish sauna
Sauna rituals: photo of Alvar Aalto in front of his smoke sauna, 1960s
Gotenburg Bathing Culture by Raumlabor
Dream, the final theme, featured Spa Rules by Something & Son
The Soak, Steam, Dream catalogue