Bathhouse on Lower Sackville Street

Student Name: Lewis Canning

School: Dalhousie University

Degree Program: BEDS

Location of Project: Halifax, Nova Scotia

Year of Project: 2019

Brief Description of Project:

Because of car oriented streets and privately owned buildings and lots, there are few places were the public are allowed to exist, and fewer still where they are welcome. In Halifax, the public library serves as a fantastic exception and my design for a bathhouse on the Halifax waterfront intends to serve the public similarly. The site of the bathhouse serves as an extension of the street, extending out to a pier on the boardwalk. This new pedestrian street is defined by the tree line and the facades of the bathhouse and the pavilion on the pier, which provides change rooms for the outdoor pool as well as food and beverage services for tourists and locals alike. As a bathhouse is such an energy intensive building, the building is designed at all scales to maximize energy efficiency. The corten steel louvers that wrap the building’s heavily glazed south facade block summer sunlight but allow full exposure in the winter. Geothermal technology harnesses energy from both the land and the nearby ocean, and the spaces are passively ventilated in the summer by solar chimneys on the roof and sliding doors on the main floor.