Objective

Health and wellness development is the primary design concept for this bathhouse project.

I focused on redesigning the bathing space (mikveh oh) in hopes of improving the mind-body connection. Susana Soares, a Portuguese designer discovered that some honey bees can be trained to detect human illnesses by using the device she developed. From this inspiration, incorporating a bee and human relationship in this space can benefit the client’s needs and also provide services that foster health and wellness.

From my research, I learned that there are lots of benefits from bee to human skincare. Honey, beeswax, propolis, bee pollen, and bee venom are natural products that were used in medicine since ancient times according to PubMed Central. In addition, honey is a product with “high nutritional value and regenerative properties” that is used in skincare. Since this project focuses primarily on health and wellness, our goal is to not only assist women’s bathing necessities but also accommodate one’s needs in skincare.

This bathhouse is welcome to women of all ages.

Cubby illustration — water tank

To carry on the religious element of this bathhouse, we want the members to feel bathed in the purest water. Therefore, rainwater is contained in a water collector on the roof and then it runs through a filter before moving down the tubes. While the water tanks are attached to the bee cubbies to provide flowers with daily moisture, there are also tubes that act as a pathway allowing bees to pass from one cubby to another.

To keep the bees healthy, many flowers will be planted in the cubbies, fresh air filtered in and out, and enough water for the bees to drink.