Badweather, an architecture collective founded in London in 2019, has turned a near-derelict seventeen-metre canal boat into Soak, a bathhouse for twelve people with a wood-fired sauna, two cold plunge pools, showers and a small bar. It has no connection to mains water, electricity or sewage. The water is drawn straight out of the canal and run through six stages of filtration and ultraviolet treatment before anyone gets in; solar panels and a battery on board supply the power, and the stove burns wood.
The boat does not stay put either. It moves to a new mooring every two weeks — Haggerston, Hoxton, Angel, King’s Cross, Paddington, Little Venice — so the view from the sauna window is never the same twice. Co-founder Leo Sixsmith says that is exactly the point. Around forty people worked on the conversion, and the old hull decided most of the layout.
So…:
What would your offer look like if it had to supply itself from what is already around it?
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Picture:
Badweather (press) // Kaye Song