Andrea Ferrarini

Methods and Analysis

Notes on Edge Conditions: a project for a bath on a river dock in Belgrade

The city of Belgrade originated where the Sava River flows into the Danube. During the past century, the rivers allowed the shores of the centre to develop into industrial areas, separating the city from the water. Today, as marinas and factories lay dormant, Belgrade might do well to reconsider its relation to the rivers.

On a dismissed river dock, the project investigates how to open up the city to the Sava River. Dwelling on a tradition which was recently interrupted, the project proposes to revive the typology of public bathing and add one more bath to the city.

In between collective and intimate, protected and exposed, the bath is designed as a park where a sequence of water tanks lead to a tower; there, the programme of a traditional steam bath unravels vertically. Exposing bodies and detaching gradually from the surrounding, the baths aims at framing and connecting seemingly unrelated scales and experiences.