A Hammam in Yazd

01 X INFO

02 X DESCRIPTION

A Hammam is not just a space of wellness where take care of yourself: it’s also a space for social connections and relationships.

The idea behind the project arises from the cultural necessity to have two distinct paths, one for men and one for women. The entire complex is a labyrinth in which the two paths are one close to the other, they intertwine but they never cross each other. In the Hammam, the sequence of the different rooms follows the natural ability of the human body to adapt to different spaces. According to the necessary time for guests to acclimatise, it allows to find their personal optimal space. The respect of the physical rhythm helps the people to feel good on one side, but it’s important also for the building itself because it preserves, passively and naturally, the established climatic indexes in each room.

As in the traditional order of the Roman thermal complex, tepidarium, calidarium and frigidarium are the main areas, but also relax areas, green patios and shaded porticos are added to the compound.

The spaces of both paths with similar climatic conditions are close each other and they follow the solar exposition logic, for this reason the calidarium is in the Southern part and it shows large openings to the garden. On the other hand, the frigidarium is in the Northern part, covered by a hermetic volume that minimizes solar gains.

Another feature of the Hammam are windcatchers, traditional Persian constructions. They are devices that refresh internal spaces using natural ventilation, in direct communication with rooms that require cooling and humidification to reach the fixed climatic conditions.

In the Hammam there is also a garden where guests could enjoy a promenade in the nature, enriched by expositive areas for contemporary artists that use wind as essential element for their works, evaporative totems that release perfumed aromas, the night-sky room, cold and relaxing and boardwalks that allows to admire the wonderful landscape of Yazd and discover all the refreshing breezes blowing over the roofs of the city.

03 X GALLERY

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04 X ABOUT

Elisa Moro has just finished her Master’s degree at Politecnico di Torino; she spended her secound year of Master at Escuela Politecnica de Madrid as erasmus student. There she began her final thesis. She is very interested in vernacular architecture as starting point to draw new solution in harmony with nature. In this project, in fact, she uses only natural ventilation to cool internal spaces.

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