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Building a Bathhouse at Scale 1:1

Part 1 Project 2021
Ioana Drogeanu
Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) | UK
‘It is September 2020 and I am here, stuck in my room wondering how I can design a building within this space.‘

The project is concerned with the scale at which people think, design, and interact with architecture. Time spent indoors during the pandemic led to an exploration of ways in which domestic items from the bedroom can become part of the design process.

It researches the ways in which designing the building at scale 1:1– using virtual reality in conjunction with body augmented tools–can create a new architectural language. How can body restrictions determine the ways in which the building elements develop? Can something that is designed in virtual reality become part of the architecture of reality? During the design process close attention was paid to the link between body movement, the tools that were used to control the forms in VR and the techniques used to bring that language into reality through materials and innovative building techniques.

The building is located in Bucharest and the chosen programme was a bathhouse. This decision was inspired by the similarity between the moment at which one’s body is immersed in water and the moment when one’s body enters in virtual reality; both immersive environments.


Tutor(s)
Ms Abigail Ashton


2021
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