Trenton Bath House
From Archiplanet
 | Trenton Bath House |
| Designer | Louis I. Kahn |
| Location | Trenton, New Jersey, USA |
| Date | 1954 to 1959 |
| Building Type | bath house |
| Climate | temperate |
| Context | suburban |
| Architectural Style | Modern |
| Street Address | 999 Lower Ferry Rd |
| Notes | Pyramid roofs on stocky concrete block piers create pavilion-like four-square spaces. Building is located in Ewing, New Jersey, a suburb of Trenton. |
| At Great Buildings | http://www.GreatBuildings.com/buildings/Trenton_Bath_House.html |
Contents |
[edit] Images
[edit] Discussion
Commentary
"The impression becomes inescapable that in Kahn, as once with [Frank Lloyd Wright], architecture began anew.
"With Kahn,...the germinal project was cross-axial in plan. This was the Bath House for the Trenton Community Center...[W]here Wright interwove the axes,...Kahn keeps each of his four spaces uncompromised by giving it a separate roof cap, with oculus, of its own. Kahn's (hipped roofs) do not project in Wright's overhang, keeping instead to their contained volumes,...supported by massive piers. Wright's piers are solid, Kahn's hollow."
— Vincent Scully, Jr. Louis I. Kahn, p25.
The Creator's Words
" 'Today we must build with hollow stones,'...to house the services,...'The nature of space is further characterized by the minor spaces that serve it. Storage rooms, service rooms and cubicles must not be partitioned areas of a single space structure, they must be given their own structure.' "
"Order does not imply beauty."
— Louis I. Kahn, from Vincent Scully, Jr.. Louis I. Kahn, p25, 26
[edit] Related Content at Wikipedia
Trenton Bath House
The Trenton Bath House is a pivotal, influential design by the architect Louis Kahn.
It is neither in Trenton, New Jersey, nor is it a bath house, but the so-called "Trenton Bath House" commands attention from architectural historians around the world. Designed as part of a larger plan (never executed) for the Jewish Community Center of the Delaware Valley, the "bath house" opened in 1955 and served as the entrance and changing area for patrons of an outdoor swimming pool.
From a design perspective, the bath house actually appears as a simple cruciform -- four square concrete block rooms or areas, surrounding an open atrium. Each of the rooms is topped by a simple, wooden rectangular pyramid. At the corner of each room there is a large, open rectangular column that supports the roof. However, closer inspection reveals that in addition to the pure design elegance, Kahn also clarified his thinking about the utilitarian purposes of the various spaces, and it was in this building that he first articulated his notion of spaces serving and spaces served.
Kahn often spoke of this project as a turning point in his design philosophy, "From this came a generative force which is recognizable in every building which I have done since."
The Bath House is located at 999 Lower Ferry Road, Ewing, New Jersey.
On August 10, 2006, Mercer County and Ewing Township purchased the bath house from the Jewish Community Center for $8.1 million, using funds from the Open Space Preservation Trust Fund. This action ensures that the historic integrity of the bath house will be protected. Ewing plans to use the main J.C.C. building as a senior citizens center. The J.C.C. will move to a new site located on Clarksville Road in West Windsor Township.
Program and Volume
Light
Structure
Shear
Compression
Tension
Services
Materials and Details
Masonry
Roof
References
- The "Trenton" Bathhouse of Louis Kahn
- Friends Of The Trenton Bathhouse
- Louis I Kahn's Trenton Jewish Community Center: Building Studies 6
[edit] Maps
[edit] References
David B. Brownlee and David G. DeLong. Louis Kahn: In the Realm of Architecture. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1991. Exterior photo, f421, p319.
Francis D. K. Ching. Architecture: Form, Space, and Order. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1979. ISBN 0-442-21535-5. LC 79-18045. NA2760.C46. plan, p57.— A nice graphic introduction to architectural ideas. Updated 1996 edition available at Amazon.com
Roger H. Clark and Michael Pause. Precedents in Architecture. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1985. grid geometry diagram, p195.— Updated edition available at Amazon.com
Vincent Scully, Jr. Louis I. Kahn. New York: George Braziller, 1962. LC 62-16265. NA737.K32S38. plate 48-51, p25.
[edit] External Links
- A Hard Building to Love Is Harder to Leave - New York Times, 2006.0714
- Trenton Bath House - drawings, diagrams and spatial analysis
- The Little Bath House That Could, by David McDonough, U.S. 1 Newspaper, 2005.0720.
