Tamina thermal baths in Bad Ragaz are grand twist on Swiss traditions
The Tamina thermal baths in Bad Ragaz are the result of a two stage competition in 2003, won by Smolenicky & Partners. Tied in with the additional Hotel complex, the Tamina thermal baths are set in extensive landscaped parkland, on a cul-de-sac that directly accesses the existing resort’s public features, including a golf club house, conference facilities and casino.
In the area of the open-air baths, the volume of the building is stepped back and opens out onto the sunbathing lawn. These expansive landscape views continue on to include the wooded slopes of a nearby mountain ridge. Views extend beyond the line of existing buildings which are screened by newly planted trees, merging the park landscape with those of forest and mountain slope in an effort to expand the compact manner of the building itself.
Smolenicky designed the Tamina thermal baths to fit in directly with the culture of other so-called ‘grand hotels’, attempting to include elements of both Swiss tradition and the grand hotels of the Baltic Coast. With this in mind, the windows in the building are formally fanciful oval constructions which act as full length picture frames when looking out from the interior. White timber battens were used both inside and out in the construction of the Tamina thermal baths, to create an effect where there is no actual interior design, simply the whole architecture of the building.
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