Communal Luxury: The Public Bathhouse
Added 2024-09-17 11:18:44 +0000 UTCWe published a new article on Low-tech Magazine: Communal Luxury: The Public Bathhouse. Here's two images that did not make the final version. They show the interior and exterior of a public shower bathhouse in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Shower bathhouses were a late invention in the history of the public bathhouse, and they were the antithesis of preindustrial communal bathing. Rather than a social affair that lasted for hours, the shower bathhouse introduced a quick and private solution.
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Another recent example can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/people/Sams-Sauna-Magic-Hat-Sauna/100064977150538/ Archived version here: https://archive.ph/wip/z6PRv Sue and Mark have converted a caravan into a wood-burning sauna. They take the sauna around the festival circuit in the UK. Their attitude is that everyone deserves the opportunity to get clean at a festival, so they operate on a donation-only approach. When preparing for each festival, they refuse to pay for a site in the festival, but balance that by not charging. The festival organisers have to provide the fuel and the water for the duration of the festival. In return, Sue and Mark provide two hot showers, one cold shower, a single-person hot-tub, the sauna, and, a plunge pool, all provided on a donation basis. The sauna is a caravan with a large built-in wood-burner, using a heating-coil system, with water-pipes carrying the heat to different parts of the sauna. The sauna has two compartments, one for adults and another for children. - The children's section is a single chamber with a flat floor, using direct heat from the burner. - The adult's section has a heat-lock at the chamber entrance and is a stepped chamber, with the different heights corresponding to the different levels of heat. The higher the step, the closer to the burner, and, the greater the heat. :D Besides the fuel for moving between festival sites and their homebase, and, the provided wood for the burner, the only other energy inputs are covered by the use of three solar panels and a battery bank. :D The conversion of the caravan was performed by Sue and Mark themselves, and required the installation of a wood-burner, along with the installation of a set of water-pipes to carry the heat around the different parts of the sauna chamber. The lower the step in the chamber, the farther away the step is from the burner, so the lower the heat. This is also reflected in the water-pipe system, used to transport the heat. :D It's an excellent approach. :D
Billy Smith
2024-09-20 14:55:58 +0000 UTCExcellent, original and useful research as always. Thanks
Miguel Dimase
2024-09-17 15:41:43 +0000 UTC
