The Edge as In-Between: Ruin and Rebirth at San Francisco's Sutro Baths

Author

• Anshul Brat

Files

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/25635

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Rights

NDSU Policy 190.6.2

URI

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Abstract

The ruins of Sutro Baths in San Francisco exist at the edge of coast and sea, at the edge of past and present, and at the edge of construction and deconstruction. Edges have historically been associated with the physical extremities of the known world and the origin of the universe. Ancient man feared and was intrigued by the idea of being at the borders of the earth, at the limit of the human world. As we encounter the half-written stories of ruins frozen in time, we are called to symbolically participate in a cyclical restoration - a ritual that was performed by our ancestors at the beginning of each New Year. Through participation in the symbolic annihilation and re-creation of the world, man could be purified, for he too began a new life. At the edge or origin of the universe, man came as close to the perfection of the creator as possible. He could also be purified through bathing, which itself is an edge between an unclean state and a state of purity. This thesis continues this cycle by introducing a Bath House in coexistence with the Sutro ruins that will connect the individual to the ocean and the larger world through a series of pools and spaces that offer a commentary on the cyclical nature of time and the process of restoration. There, guests will be able to become in touch with themselves and their collective history as a species that longs for renewal.

Recommended Citation

Brat, Anshul, "The Edge as In-Between: Ruin and Rebirth at San Francisco's Sutro Baths" (2016). Architecture Theses. 615.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/architecture-theses/615