HAPTIC AURA SPA | 2004

Located in Saratoga Springs, NY, this project transforms an obsolete paper mill into a spa. The new 10,000 SQFT program recycles existing materials and artifacts of the former structure to reinvent the experience and ritual of visiting a spa. The original paper press becomes structural support for a cable-hung staircase, unused boilers become spaces for massage therapy, and wood chip soaking pools are transformed into heated thermal baths. The visitor’s understanding of this architectural intervention is experienced as an intricate interaction between the body and architectural memory: The human body finds itself repeatedly exposed to new content within existing building remnants.