DEVE Architecture

Roars Kilde Bath House . Roskilde

deve

After a municipal competition to generate ideas, it was decided that the city of Roskilde should invest in projects that could help establish the city’s new regional identity, as a destination for health and well-being.

As a part of this effort, a bath house concept, with facilities for excercise, massage, treatment,
and recreation has been commissioned to contribute towards the city’s goal of the new identity. The proposed bath house site lies at the north end of Roskilde Fjord, across from the existing Viking Ship Museum, and near an existing campground.
Because the site for this new, speculative structure currently overlaps a protected harbor area in Roskilde, it was deemed important that the building integrate with the existing tree line to enhance the good qualities of the natural area. The mass of the building is decentralized and distributed across an existing gap in that foliage, helping to break down the scale of the program and fit the structure more seamlessly into the context.
An irregular series of thin columns is employed to support the fragmented roof form, and they help anchor the building at the site, by mimicking the surrounding tree trunks. The roof planes and many of the columns extend past the transparent glass envelope, and the steam rising from the pools further blurs the line between the interior and exterior.