Text/ 郭慧
Dictation/李清志
Picture provided/ 李清志、北投溫泉博物館、7132

From Roman to Japanese public baths, bathhouses, with their unique architectural aesthetics, are not only places for people to bath but also serve as reminders of bathing culture. During an unfolding epidemic, let's discover the memories of architect Ching-Chih Lee's journey around the world and explore the imagery of urban bathhouses from an architecture perspective.

Childhood haunted house turns into the Beitou Hot Spring Museum

Interestingly, Ching-Chih Lee, who longed to be a detective when he was a child (and is now known as the "urban detective"), discovered the secret of the bathhouse, buried in the fragments of time, as early as middle school. He used to visit the Star Hot Spring - one of Beitou's three famous hot springs - with his family. He also enjoyed the elegant planning and lush greenery of Beitou Park so much that he often took a taxi to Beitou Library to study. "When my companions and I were reading, we would see this mysterious ruin. We called it the haunted house!" Lee laughed. 

Back then, Ching-Chih Lee didn’t expect the "haunted house", which was discovered by the Beitou Elementary School teachers and students, would turn out to be the largest public bathing place in East Asia. With the residents’ help, it has now been turned into the Beitou Hot Spring Museum. From a junior high school student who traveled thousands of miles to the beautiful park, Lee became an associate professor of architectural design at Shih Chien University. He had even gone to the Star Hot Spring to sample the delicious dishes at faculty gatherings.

The "haunted house" that Ching-Chih Lee saw when he was in middle school was preserved through the concerted efforts of Beitou residents to become Beitou’s Hot Spring Museum today.（Picture provided：北投溫泉博物館）

Tang dynasty pediment architecture collection - enjoying a different world full of steam

However, as a traveling urban detective, Ching-Chih Lee explored the bathhouses, not only in Taiwan, but also decided to visit bathhouses throughout Japan to study their unique architectural design. This included the art museum "SCAI the Bathhouse" in Tokyo that was converted from a century-old bathhouse. "The entrance facade of the traditional Japanese bathhouse is in a ‘pediment style of the Tang Dynasty’. According to the Japanese, entering through this pediment is like stepping into another world. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty’s pediment design is often used in the construction of funeral parlors to symbolize the difference between life and death, while the bathhouse filled with steam also looks like another world."

In addition to Japan, Lee climbed the Alps to Therme Vals, a spa run by the Pritzker architect Peter Zumthor. Here, he enjoyed the healing power of the hot springs in expansive indoor and outdoor baths. Lee laughed; compared with the Japanese taking hot springs as physical and mental healing and going to public baths as a daily routine, the bath is used mainly in many European wealthy elderly nursing clubs and the entire scene is very different.

From the classical facade in the pediment style of the Tang Dynasty, to bath spaces created by great architects, from plain folk’s baths to the ones in rich nursing homes, through the lens of the urban detective, bathhouses across the world reflect different regional cultures. However, hidden in a quiet corner in an alleyway or on a towering mountain, waiting for people to be immersed in the baths of ancient cultures to wash away the bustle of real life, they all hold a common healing magic.

Profile / 李清志

Renowned architecture scholar, columnist, radio host and urban detective, Ching-Chih Lee holds a master's degree in architecture from the University of Michigan and is currently an associate professor in the Department of Architectural Design at Shih Chien University. He is the author of “Aesthetic Kyoto: Ching-Chih Lee's Kyoto Aesthetics” and “Soul Place: A Space Reader for One's Solitude”. In 2019, he won the Golden Bell Award for the Arts Program as well as the Host Award for the Arts Program.