Badhaus - Contrapunct

Badhaus is part of the renovation of the historic "Grieser Viertel" district that is transformed from a once-enclosed plot into a porous complex that reconnects architecture, city, and community. The project opens courtyards, passages, and new pedestrian axes, reinterpreting the local urban fabric through spatial continuity and dialogue. Badhaus function is private, it is a hotel, but the ultimate goal is public welfare. Its material language - stone for public areas, clay bricks for the facades, wood for intimate zones, and plaster for abstract volumes - balances historical context and contemporary expression, turning a hidden fragment into a civic space.

Badhaus forms part of a wider urban regeneration strategy aimed at redefining the identity of the historic district Grieser Viertel through the transformation of existing buildings and the introduction of new public and cultural functions: hotels, residences, ateliers, shops, and generous open spaces for citizens and visitors. Conceived as a catalyst within a dense and layered urban fabric, Badhaus rises vertically to free the inner courtyard, converting it into a public square that reconnects the surrounding properties and strengthens the sense of continuity between architecture and city. The project opens new passages and pedestrian axes, promoting permeability, interaction, and collective belonging. Its material palette — stone, clay bricks, copper, wood, and plaster — reflects a dialogue between history and contemporaneity. By reinterpreting the architectural language of the old city, Badhaus redefines the Grieser Viertel’s civic identity and its renewed sense of openness.

Badhaus celebrates craftsmanship and the tactile intelligence of handmade materials, where locally produced clay bricks give rhythm, warmth, and a human scale to the architecture. The structure unfolds in exposed reinforced concrete — a precise, almost silent choice dictated by the proximity to the groundwater and by the need to preserve the building’s height and balance. Concrete becomes both frame and presence, anchoring the project within its dense urban context. The façades alternate stripes of clay bricks, copper, and glass; the interiors are enveloped in wood, while the public courtyard is paved with stone, terrazzo, and reused brick fragments, ensuring a seamless tactile and visual continuity with the surroundings. We are inside a courtyard: it is not about view but intimacy — a retreat, a quiet concentration within the restless city. Filtered light flows through the glass bands, creating a cocoon filled with calm and material energy.