Temporary public bath structure by Leopold Banchini Architects

 

Installed for the Concéntrico Festival in Logroño, Spain, Round About Baths is a temporary public structure designed by Leopold Banchini Architects. The project reclaims the center of a traffic roundabout, typically an inaccessible and overlooked urban void, by introducing a spatial program that reactivates the site as a space for collective bathing.

 

The design utilizes a standard timber frame construction, with the structure clad in uncut wooden panels. These panels are intended for reuse following the festival, aligning with a strategy of material efficiency and circular use. High perimeter walls offer visual privacy while marking the intervention’s boundary within the traffic circle.

leopold banchini's temporary timber bathhouse reclaims traffic roundabout in spain
all images by Gregori Civera

 

 

Round About Baths reimagines a contemporary urban setting

 

Historically, public baths were part of 19th-century efforts to improve hygiene and provide equitable access to basic infrastructure. Over time, many of these facilities were closed and replaced by private wellness centers, shifting bathing from a shared civic activity to a commercial service. Round About Baths revisits this typology by introducing a temporary urban bathhouse composed of cold-water basins, steam rooms, and changing areas, while occupying a central point in the city.

 

By occupying a central, vehicular-dominated site, the project draws attention to underutilized spaces shaped by car infrastructure. Studio Leopold Banchini suggests alternative uses for urban land, particularly those spaces that are physically prominent yet functionally marginal. Once the temporary installation is dismantled, the existing fountain and roundabout return to their previous state, though the intervention leaves a conceptual trace, proposing a new lens for interpreting public space.

leopold banchini's temporary timber bathhouse reclaims traffic roundabout in spain
Round About Baths reclaims a traffic roundabout as a public space

leopold banchini's temporary timber bathhouse reclaims traffic roundabout in spain
the installation transforms an overlooked urban void into a communal space