Somatic Synergies: A Balancing Act

Using bodily experience as a source of embodied knowledge affords us a new layer of spatial understanding about seemingly unassuming spaces. Building upon this personal methodology, the project interrogates how somatic experiences can inspire an active architecture that, in turn, conditions the body to be in touch with its balance. Our sense of self is drawn out by how the world around us is in balance and enables us to be in balance, yet what surrounds us is stable architecture that indulges the body in comfort and convenience, inhibiting opportunities for self-exploration through movement.

Opposing this effortless equilibrium, the project is a ‘balance spa’ that employs architectural interventions to reintroduce the valuable state of hyperawareness we are thrown into when the body is challenged to respond to a variable set of spatial factors or interference from other bodies. Perched atop an existing groyne in Hastings, the building’s language and final representations clarify its curated hierarchy and equilibrium. The architecture resonates with the questions about balance that it raises and hosts at a bodily scale, acknowledging the inhabitant’s novel experience.

Sited Instability

The balance spa hovers precariously over an existing groyne, its main truss arm pivoting over the beach and sea. On a macro scale, the site works in conjunction with the building to remind viewers from afar of the need for stability.

Articulating Equilibrium

Views of the balance spa from land and sea, shaded in the style of Russian Constructivism. The drawing process becomes a reflective method of representation that uses distinct tones to articulate the building’s structural performance clearly.

Corroborated Legitimacy

1:250 model of an iteration focusing on achieving greater clarity in the building’s resolution of forces for balance. The novel experience of the balancing spa-goer is reinforced and legitimised through resonance with the surrounding architecture.

Fleeting Ambiguity

Drawing of the only enclosed vessel in the building, with a veiled view of its sculptural interior through the folding translucent skin. These moments of ambiguity create intrigue when set against the building’s overall legibility.

Body in Programme

These views focus on bodily poses as a reference to the project’s somatic methodology. Choreographic sequences of bodies along a spectrum of stability and physical engagement demonstrate the building’s intended effect on inhabitants.