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PLEASURE PRINCIPLE

"Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures."
 Voltaire

According to Freud's pleasure principle, all people seek pleasure and avoid pain. Therefore, hypothetically, consciously or subconsciously architects, seek to formalize or induce pleasure through their buildings or designs. Corbusier, validates this claim in his book the city of to-morrow, by making argument for form based on pleasure or pain.

PAIN OR PLEASURE AS A JUSTIFICATION FOR FORM

'Let us make matters clear: two sensations affect us; a feeling of comfort and a feeling of discomfort...Whenever a line is broken, jolted, irregular and constructed without rhythm, or the form is over-acute or over-bristling, our sense are painfully and grievously affected. Our spirits suffer as a result of this confusion and harshness, this lack of "good manners", and the word "barbourous" comes at once to the mind. But when a line is continuous and regular, and the forms are full and rounded without a break, a governed by a clear guiding rule, then the sense are solaced, the mind is ravished, liberated, lifted out of chaos and flooded with light. Then the word "mastery" comes to mind, it glows brightly and we are happy.' Le Corbusier

In Corbusier's book the city of to-morrow he outlines 2 sensations affecting us, comfort which he associates with pleasure, and discomfort which he associates with pain. Based on this observation, he makes an argument for an ordered form of architecture by associating pain with discomfort one experiences when faced with unguided geometry and chaos of form/ disorder, and pleasure with a relief one takes from regularity and order.

This simple outline of pleasure, limits pleasure to the feeling of comfort or relief- which are passive forms of pleasure. However, there are many different levels of pleasure, some active and some passive. Just as one experiences pleasure from rest and order (minimalist), one also experiences pleasure from mental and physical stimulation (baroque), a more active form of pleasure.

'It is a pleasing labour of the mind to solve the most difficult problems; allegories and riddles, trifling as they are, afford the mind amusement: and with what delight does it follow the well-connected thread of play, or novel, which ever increases as the plot thickens, and the ends most pleas'd, when it is most distinctly unravell'd. The eye hath this sort of enjoyment in winding walks, and serpentine rivers...Intricacy in form, therefore I shall define to be that peculiarity in the lines ,which compose it, that leads the eye on a wanton kind of chase' William Hogarth, alluding to an active form of pleasure through intricacy of form.

The bath-house is a place of many different types of pleasure, active and passive. The pleasure one experiences from extreme exercise, activity, stimulation or interaction (ACTIVE PLEASURE), varies from the pleasure one experiences from a massage/ sauna/ steam (SEMI-ACTIVE) which varies to the pleasure one gets from complete solitude and rest/escape/sleep (PASSIVE). The design for the bath-house aims to enhance either the passive or active pleasures of the program through the formal language of the architecture.

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE PLEASURE SPACE

The bath house's active program will consist of public lap pools and exercise gardens/ courtyards. Like the activities within, the active spaces will be designed to stimulate the body and the mind. Large overlapping, open spaces will allow for public interaction and activity and make room for movement and circulation. The walls will open up to the sky allowing light to flood in and activate the activity within. The variation in colour, form and intricate ornamented surfaces will stimulate the eye and 3d anamorphosis and placement of the ornament will be used to engage the mind and move the bodies in the space.

The ultimate passive activity or inactivity will be sleep. The passive program will be enhanced through the passive space, designed to relieve the eye and mind. Small, enclosed and isolated spaces will allow for solitary occupation and inactivity. The walls will cave in above to enhance the feeling of enclosure and to restrict the light entering the room, resting the eye and mind. The form and ornament simplifies and it is uniform and repetitive, giving order and calm to the space, enhancing the passive state of pleasure within.