The
Architecture
of
Bathing:
Body,
Landscape,
Art by
Christie
Pearson
(MIT
Press,
2020)
seeks
to
expand
architectural
discourse
critically
and
creatively,
bridge
audiences,
and
encourage
dialogue
between
fields.
This
is
the
first
book
to
examine
traditional
and
contemporary communal
bathing
cultures
globally
from
the
perspective
of
art,
architecture
and
landscape.
It
is
the
culmination
of
years
of
studying,
traveling,
sketching,
photographing,
listening
and
sweating
in
wonderful
public
bathing
places
around
the
world.
Drawing
on
the
Lefebvrian
concept
of
the
production
of
space,
The
Architecture
of
Bathing
firmly
embeds
architecture
into
relational
and
material
networks
in
dialogue
between
architects
Zaha
Hadid,
Peter
Zumthor,
Herzog
and
de
Meuron,
Kengo
Kuma),
artists
(Ayse
Erkman,
Rachel
Whiteread,
Cai
Guo
Qiang,
Roni
Horn),
canonical
thinkers
(Mary
Douglas,
Gaston
Bachelard,
Victor
and
Edith
Turner,
Georges
Bataille),
and
contemporary
theorists
(Sylvia
Federici,
Luce
Irigaray,
Astrida
Neimanis,
Chantal
Mouffe,
Aaron
Betsky,
Suely
Rolnik).
Fifteen
formal
typologies
are
paired
with
ways
of
experiencing
architecture
to
frame
the
examination
of
the
complex
spatial
experiences,
social
relationships,
and
cultural
mythologies
that
lie
beneath
the
surface
of
my
subject.
The
many
illustrations
articulate
relationships
that
baths
can
support,
and
highlight
how
we
meet
the
world
both
physically
and
symbolically.
Cultural
differences
and
similarities
emerge:
at
times
painfully
laying
bare
social
attitudes
towards
race,
class,
gender,
and
sexuality;
at
times
amplifying
tensions
between
public
and
private,
sacred
and
profane,
ritual
and
habitual,
nature
and
culture.
Architectures
of
public
bathing
emerge
as
dynamic
civic
spaces,
where
outdated
collective
agreements
fade
and
new
ideas
of
being
together
are
tested.
Review
links: Pin-Up
Magazine
and
New
York
Times
Thursday, November 5, 2020 6:00 pm
-
7:30 pm
EST (GMT -05:00)