COMPLETED

FUNCTION: Holistic Wellness, Bathouse, Steam Room, Sauna, Cold Plunge, Private Lounge

SIZE: 462.94 sqm

LOCATION: SINGAPORE, 14A Dempsey Rd

Nowhere Baths is a gender-inclusive bathhouse located in Singapore’s Dempsey Hill, a former military compound. Housed in a refurbished colonial-era barrack, the project is conceived as a journey through shifting thermal atmposheres and sensory immersion. Eliptical volumes cradle the body and blur boundaries between architecture and nature. Framed views, infinity pools, and softened light connect interior and forest. The use of textured plaster, terracota tiles, and corrugated aluminium, materials drawn from the site’s military past is reinterpreted to create a tacticle experience of stillness and renewal. More than a retreat, it is a space of presence, ritual, and elemental connection.

Set within a repurposed military barrack, the bathhouse nestles quietly into Dempsey Hill’s forest edge-preseving memory while inviting new rituals of renewal.

The spatial experience of the bathhouse is conceived as a continuous, unfolding journey-one that moves not only through space, but through changing atmospheres of temperature, humidity, and sensory environments.

The pools, designed with infinity edges, were conceived as reflective vessels—mirroring the jungle canopy. This reflection doubles the experience, creating a surreal overlap between the physical forest and its reflection. The water is not just for bathing, but for dissolving the boundary altogether.

Rather than resist the wildness of the site, we leaned into it. We wanted to create a space that doesn’t just sit within the jungle, but one that melds with it. The primary gesture was to frame this chaos-literally and conceptually. By carving clean openings in the façade, we offered moments where the jungle is not just a view, but a presence. These apertures, designed without obvious frames or thresholds, erase the typical boundary between inside and out.

Infinity edge hot pools visually merges with the jungle beyond, creating a surreal overlap between reflection and reality - where architecture frames nature as a living, breathing presence.

On one end, the outdoor deck opens directly to the forest. It is a space of pause-where the body still warm from the bath, is enveloped by the natural rhythm of the jungle. The bathing ritual extends into forest bathing where one can experience the sounds and scent of the forest.

At the opposite end, the indoor integration zone offers a more introspective counterpoint.

Eliptical void wraps into the integration lounge, offering a quiet return to ground, with walnut floors, soft seating and framed views of nature.

This space invites rest in its purest form. The warm timber underfoot encourages a return to the ground. It is a space for stillness, or for subtle activation: meditation, sound therapy, breathwork, or yoga. Its openness allows it to adapt to the needs of the body and mind, extending the experience of the bath into something slower, deeper.

Together, the integration lounge and outdoor deck complete the ritual by providing a soft re-entry into the world.

The reception sets the tone, fluid forms, warm tones, and softened thresholds invite guests into a world of sensory ritual.

Material transitions play a key role in shaping the visitor’s journey. A blend of velvety microcement and tactile pebble wash flooring marks the threshold between outdoors and indoors. This contrast is heightened under bare feet, enganging the senses and signalling the beginning of the bathing ritual. As users move deeper into the space, sculpted volumes finished in sandy-textured stucco evoke a grounded, cavern-like ambiance-particulary as one enters the changing room.

Corrugated aluminium revolving doors in the changing room recall the site’s barrack history, marking a quiet ritual of entry and transition

The changing room itself is a space of dynamic energy- finished with deep terracotta tiles and corrugated aluminium, it pulses with activity the gentle clatter of aluminium doors, the sound of running water, the rustle of belongings, and hushed conversations at the vanity. These material choices pay homage to Dempsey’s layered architectural past-the terracotta referencing traditional clay roof tiles of nearby building, while the corrugated metal echoes the barrack-structures that once defined the area. Reclaimed solid timber elements further root the space in its natural context, bridging the past and present.

Exiting the changing room, a palpable shift occurs. The architecture quietens and material palette softens further – walls, floors, and ceilings of the bath zone adopt a monochromatic tone, finished in soft microcement and textured plaster to remove visual distraction.

Circular skylights and sculptured volumes soften light and space, creating an inclusive environment for slow shared bathing rituals.

Cold plunge carved into a sculptural and offering a moment of thermal shock and renewal

The sauna, grounded by timber and stone tiles, balances warmth and intimacy with panoramic views of the surrounding forest

Warm, indirect cove lighting enhances the sense of calm, From here, nature takes the stage. Large openings and carefully framed vistas reveal the surrounding forest, creating a dialogue between interior and exterior, stillness and growth, enclosure and openness.

Every surface, texture and transition has been considered to support a gentle unfolding of space where material becomes a mediator between body, ritual and landscape. This bathhouse is not only a place for cleansing, but a space where design and materiality come together to enhance reflection, presence, and connection to nature.