Hammam Spa / Ressano Garcia

Curated by Matheus Pereira

Architects: Ressano Garcia
Area: 70 m²
Year: 2017
Photographs:Francisco Nogueira, Vasco Célio
Manufacturers: 4UDecor, Adobe, Alfredo Antunres Flor, Amorim, Archiexpo, Avilsa, CIN, Cimpor, Dimensão, Efectoled, Extrual, Isotherm, Jular, Legrand, Luso, McNeel, Miguel Batista, PRELIS, Roca, Secil, +5Sotecnisol, Tecnividro, Terracota do Algarve, Vidal Tecidos, progeSOFT-5

Text description provided by the architects. Architecture hosts both the mind and the body. Each person perceives the physical world through enigmatic intimate reactions. The body knows human beings' common needs and learns about the built environment. The mind is able to interpret architecture using other tools. The central question is how does it work? Do senses influence the architect or the senses are enhanced by architecture design? There is not a direct answer thought in the Hammam we tried to inform the mind about the senses of the body. Interior spaces are organized by their temperatures (hot, warm and cold). Inside the hot room, the steam improves the sense of the body. Sweat increases the smell of the body and softens the skin, offering a profound physical experience, closely related to the intimacy of lovers.

In the next room, the warm room has generous benches built in marble with comfortable angles and round edges, they softly touch the skin. It is a space for sensual pleasures where each detail matters. In plan, the geometry of the room presents an oval shape and the cross section shows a parabolic shape. It is intentionally designed with curves and the combination of the round plan and section enhances a particular spatial experience. A space that is smooth, without corners or angles; that is continuous and round suggests similarities to the womb. The sensuality of the experience is amplified by the shape of the building’s design. The light inside offers a spiritual experience, enriched by the sound of regular dripping of water that smoothes the atmosphere to complete relaxation. The project was designed in close collaboration with clients Eglantina Monteiro and Francisco Palma Dias. Eglantina is an anthropologist and art curator who holds a deeper perception of local context and their cultural relations. Francisco is a poet and a surreal farmer who claimed the necessity to remake the traditional public baths, that is to say, the Hammam.

Hammam Spa / Ressano Garcia - Interior Photography, Bathroom, Bathtub — © Francisco Nogueira

To him, public baths, widely disseminated during the Roman Empire and continued by Muslims all around the Mediterranean, were consistently banned by the Catholic Kings during the Middle Ages. We share the perception that Hammams were condemned by the Catholic Kings in this Southern region of the Iberian Peninsula though the locals had been using them for centuries. The design of a new Hammam in this particular region and in this specific period of time, the 21st century, is a statement at two levels; historic and geographic. The new building establishes a relation to a long lost practice. It opens a new perception where local culture is seen not just within its present context but also related to ancient traditions.