In designing the Baths building we have sought a balanced response to the natural setting on one hand and to the urbanized context on the other. The structure is built up to (and, in places, into) the side of the mountain, integrating its volume with that of its natural setting. To its neighbors, a church and a hotel, the building design offers a neutral response, moderately acknowledging the traditional space-making of these rectilinear blocks disposed orthogonally to one another. A series of curving walls or "ribbons" define the building's exterior form. These "ribbons" spring from the mountainside and terminate equally, while between them are green roof surfaces in a series of terraces, forming an extension of the mountain landscape. This ‘watery’ shape gives a reduced appearance of bulk, and results in a structure that is thoroughly integrated into the mountain landscape.

The façade is built of a custom-made glass block, trapezoidal in section, acid etched both inside and out. This block’s form was designed to accentuate the curvilinear aspect of the façade, the overlapping of each block course over the one below creating a shadow line that reiterates the planimetric curve of the façade.

Completed January 2008