The Tepid Baths

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The Tepid Baths are located in Aucklands CBD close to the water front. The building was built in 1914. Recently the building has undergone huge refurbishments and is now a public pool. The only indoor public pool in the city.

Today I decided to take a walk down to have a look. Now surrounded by motorway over bridges and high rise buildings it could have easily been lost over the years, the decision to make it a heritage building was a good one.

In 2008 a conservation plan was written in order to make sure it keeps its heritage elements intact and that it not dwarfed or obstructed by new developments in the area.

Inside, in the reception area there is a mini exhibition area showing the history of the baths. there were photos and old remnants of the baths before it was re developed. This included some of the original tiles.

Over the years there have been a substantial number of modifications to the Tepid Baths. Nevertheless, the building retains much of its original qualities both in terms of function and form.

It is interesting to see such an early example of a bathhouse in New Zealand. The social aspect of these baths was interesting at the time also with there being separate pools for men and woman. This segregation also implied different uses as the mens pool has gym equipment to work out with while on the other hand the womens pool has baskets of hanging flowers, suggesting that they should bathe in a much more leisurely pace.

Our space that we are designing has to have adequate facilities to cater for the needs of the spa goers, this includes an area to get changed. In most modern day pools and gyms we see segregated men and woman changing rooms. Today during my visit I noticed that surrounding the pool there were a series of individual unisex changing pods, somewhat similar to the booths they had back in 1914. This seems like a much better use of space, not having to have specific for men and women. This could be of benefit to me as the space in which we have to work in is limited, anything that can be done to save space would be ideal and I will make sure to consider this when designing.