Quayside Thermal Baths - IDP Part 2 Project 2008 Keshiv SuderaKeshiv Sudera De Montfort University | UK THE SCHEME CONSISTS OF THREE LAYERS; THE FIRST IS TO PATCH UP THE EXISTING MASTERPLAN BY ENHANCING THE CONNECTIONS WITH ITS IMMEDIATE SURROUNDINGS AND HISTORY. THE SECOND IS THE PUBLIC PROMENADE CONNECTING ALL THE ELEMENTS TOGETHER THROUGHA SERIES OF RAMPS. THE THIRD LAYER IS A SOUTH FACING THERMAL BATHS, SITUATED ALONG HADRIANS WAY ON THE RIVER TYNE. THE DESIGN IS INFLUENCED BY THE ACCESSIBILITY FROM THE UPPER AND LOWER LEVELS THROUGH A SEQUENCE OF RAMPS, DIVIDING THE AREA INTO THREE TRIANGULATED SPACES OFFERING DIFFERENT RELAXATION EXPERENCES. THE BUILDING EXTRUDES FROM THE SLOPE THROUGH A NUMBER OF WALLS TO CREATE A STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH HADRIAN’S WALL THAT IS PART OF THE AREAS HISTORY.THE LOCALLY QUARRIED SANDSTONE MAKES UP THE WALL CONSTRUCTION AND GIVES BACK TO THE SITE THROUGH A NATURAL MATERIAL. THE INTERNAL RAMPS ARE DESIGNED TO DISLOCATE THE INDIVIDUAL FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD BY SLOWLY BRINGING THE BATHER INTO A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT. THE NORTH SIDE OF THE RAMP PROVIDES A CELLULAR SPACE AND THE SOUTH PROVIDES A NON-CELLULAR SPACES. THE BUILDING CREATES A JORNEY, PLAYING BETWEEN SOLID AND VOID, LIGHT AND SHADE, AND OPEN AND ENCLOSED SPACES WHICH ALL MAKE FOR A RESTORATIVE EXPERIENCE. In the Part 2 course at Leicester the aim is that students learn how to design buildings using virtually all the constraints that mould the completed final designs. This holistic approach is challenging and those students who succeed in manipulating this complexity to make designs of integrity in their contexts receive the greatest recognition. Managing this complexity requires not only a consciousness of current contemporary architectural philosophies and pre-occupations, but extensive research into a wide variety of related factors from sustainable social context to buildability. Keshiv has consistently shown undoubted talents in understanding the architectural fundamentals of spatial manipulation and constructional methodologies, and then combining them with witty consideration for context, as is shown in his work, culminating in his final design thesis – Quayside Thermal Baths – for his Integrated Design Project. In this he combines the constraints of a riverside site with a steep level change from bank to street, the requirement to keep the church visible from the river, and the competing constraints of privacy and accessibility, to make a craggy cliff-like design which incorporates both an external path between levels for the public and an internal one for the progress through the Spa.