Bath House

The Bath House defines the North side of a new public square designed in collaboration with muf architecture/art.  The building comprises eight storeys set on a ground floor plinth.  The upper storeys push out to form a covered walkway in front of the ground floor retail units.  Linear soffit mounted lighting is incorporated at the soffit edge to emphasise the linear dynamic and accentuate the Town Hall/Ripple Road axis.  To the rear, the ground floor pushes out to maintain the street edge.  This urban importance is recognised by a facade treatment of glazed tiles with interspersed colours.

The upper storeys contain 96 residential units comprising a mix of one and two bed apartments, over half of which overlook the Arboretum.  Each has an external amenity space comprising projecting balcony or terrace (level 1 only) and there is a communal terrace at level 1. 

Brick was chosen for the Bath House to provide a visual connection with the existing brick context of the Magistrate's Court and Town Hall and also to provide a contrast to the large module smooth panels used opposite on Phase 1.  Each long elevation is clad in smooth Ibstock Cheddar Brown brick.  This brick provides a crisp, modern look to the building.

Given the scale of the facades, the design sought to incorporate texture and pattern to provide relief and interest.  This was achieved by introducing a cant brick every fourth brick in the horizontal coursing, with the cant stepping over one and a half bricks each vertical course.  The result is a relatively uniform pattern dappled across the facade, though it does have a slight bias toward the Town Hall as a subtle reinforcement of the axial dynamic of the Arboretum.  Cants were omitted where they occurred on reveals to openings.  Bricks underneath cants were specially extruded with 2 holes instead of 3, to prevent early brick failure through frost attaack at the exposed mortar filled hole.  Coloured mortar was used to match the brick and further 'smooth' the elevations.

Brick selection was also informed by the design and colours of the projecting balconies.  These hand across the building to present different aspects to the Arboretum and are coloured to reflect summer to autumn foliage, taking inspiration from the Arboretum.  The brick compliemnts and enhances these colours.

Balconies are fabricated using ppc steel flats to two sides with a glazed panel on the third side.  This light, open design allows more daylight into the apartments, provides glimpses through to the brickwork and enlivens the facade with a play of shadow and light.

At each end, the brickwork returns to form a frame around recessed balconies, with special brick made to accommodate the angles at the building ends,  The ends use the same palette of colours as the balconies, the large canvas of colour being broken by full width balconies.