Public bathing is a national pastime in Japan, but the practice was born out of necessity. In places like Edo, the city that became Tokyo, space was limited and hot water was expensive. Eventually, bathhouses, or sentō, became cultural hubs.
For The Clean Issue, we spoke with Jo Nagasaka, whose firm
@schemataarchitects has recently designed three new sentō, in an attempt to keep the bathhouse culture alive.
“Sentō can’t be too stylish,” says Jo. “They need to be accepted by all people—it’s important that they don’t become the kind of place where grandparents feel they can’t relax. So, I suppose it needs a design similar to that of a cafeteria or a ramen shop.”
(Photos:
@juyeonlee__ )
