Saucier + Perrotte architectes

Photos: Marc Cramer

Located in the heart of historic Old Montreal and facing the vibrant piers of Old Port, Scandinave Les Bains Vieux-Montréal is an urban spa whose purpose is to provide a thermal therapy experience that engages each of the body’s senses. The building, rebuilt half a century ago after extensive fire damage, has housed warehouse functions until recently when it was acquired by the new owners: the new spa is positioned at the ground/entrance level.

The formal parti is derived from the contact between hot and cold — more specifically, the naturally occurring phenomena associated with these conditions. The design distills the idea of cool glacial forms and the warmness of volcanic rocks, whose duality is articulated through both the spa’s forms and materials.

Visitors are immersed in a unique, environment where walls, floors and ceiling are slightly angled according to a notion of interior topography. These angles, though subtle, heighten awareness of the corporeal relationship with one’s surroundings, grounding each visitor for that moment in time. Just as in a natural landscape, slight undulations in the ground plane create gentle slopes; depressions in the floor level generate basins of water for bathing. At particular moments, volumes emerge from the ground to sculpt interior zones for the sauna and steam bath. Uniting the main space is an undulating wood ceiling that echoes the movements of the floor: walls of white marble mosaic appear to melt at the point of contact with the warm-colored wood on the ceiling. Heated, cantilevered benches made of black slate offer visitors a warm place to pause in between a hot and cold bathing cycle.

Opalescent glass allows natural light through the building’s existing openings while providing a sense of privacy for the visitors. The light that permeates the bath area glows, adding to the purity of the space and the feeling of tranquility for the bathers while keeping contact with city life. Along de la Commune Street, a thin cascading layer of water flows on glass surfaces, filtering views so that from the exterior, passersby can see only shadowed silhouettes of the figures within the hot bath. Rounding out the holistic journey is the relaxation room and juice bar where bathers can relax.