illustrates a unique perceptual encounter between myself and the abandoned interior of Poplar Baths in London. Awaiting rescue the building became a place where residual fragments of past occupancies provided a stage for an immersive journey into the ambiance of the interior across past and present thresholds. The interest of the project lies in its ability to articulate how embodied perception can activate a deep empathetic connection between body and space in the context of urban heritage. Buildings are much more than a composition of construction materials, volumes and forms.
Poplar Baths is located on East India Dock Road in the Borough of Tower Hamlets, London. The site of public baths since 1852, the current building dates from 1933. It was used as a swimming pool, public baths and vapour baths, and transformed into a theatre, dance hall, cinema and exhibition hall in Winter when the main pool was floored over. The building sustained substantial bomb damage during World War II and remained closed until 1947. Following extensive repairs it reopened to renewed popularity, however, lack of funding combined with changes in the area and leisure pursuits resulted in the facilities permanently closing in 1988. This project took place prior to this building's recent transformation into a leisure centre.
At first glance, the interior presented itself to the objective mind as a succession of rooms and corridors with blistering paint, debris of glass and fallen plaster, dirt, dust and rusted metal. It had clearly been neglected, even abused, as some of the damage and graffiti would suggest, for a number of years. Dreary peeling wallpaper and cheap imitation wood laminates showed that previous attempts at renovation had not been kind to the interior either. Yet, amongst the decay and dirt, or possibly because of it, the sensitivity of the mind to the pervasive ambiance seemed to intensify. Details presented themselves. The building’s remaining original Art Deco features - an elegant bevelled ceiling, slate blue tiles, black and chrome edging, mosaic floor tiles - were progressively revealed as the body moved through the interior, and it became possible to imagine what it must have been like in its heyday. In imagination, the interior became imbued with diffused notions of past occupancies - people enjoying a few moments of restorative care in the vapour baths, joyful couples eager to warm up on the dance floor during the cold winter evenings. Suddenly, a dimly lit passage opened up onto a large rectangular volume framed by a series of striking hyperbolic arches flanked by cascading windows. This unexpected revelation used to be the main swimming pool.
In sharp contrast to the dark and dusty corridors, it appeared majestic and serene, bathed in soothing sunlight. Even decay has its own kind of beauty. Walking at the bottom of a swimming pool felt odd and it is almost as if one could imagine ghost like figures of swimmers moving through the water. The temporality of the situation, the residual qualities that emanated from the space and its features, induced sensory perceptions that resonated across space and time as imagination reached into the depth of consciousness. As residues of the past visible in architectural features, objects, dust and air, merged with present conditions, the subjective world fluctuated. Diffused reflections, akin to a form of atmospheric resonance, echoed through space and time.
Related article
Mace, Valérie (2016) Residual Ambiances - An Illustration of Urban heritage as a Sentient Experience. Ambiances. tomorrow. 3rd International Congress on Ambiances., University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece.