Article source: Matteo Thun & Partners

A visual and physical continuum between indoors and outdoors, generating a perception that compounds an already complete wellness experience achieved by harnessing the spirit of place. (25 different pools in Italy’s largest public spa).

According to archaeological records, the springs in Meran have been in use for some 5.000 years. If those records are true, then the antecedents in the modern baths in this historical little town on the southern side of the Alps (which enjoys 300 days of sunshine every year) were already attracting users 1.000 years before the ancient Egyptians discovered the use of therapeutic baths were a staggering 3.000 years old when the Romans built their famous installation in Bath, in England. When the ancients took the plunge in the Meran springs, the view they could enjoy of the town’s magnificent location, set like the jewel in a crown of mountains, was unfettered by any surrounding manmade structure. And when today’s visitors to the town’s new state-of-the-art thermal baths take their plunge, Matteo Thun’s transparent design establishes a continuum between indoors and out, affording them a similar experience: the ultimate in the fitness is visual as well as physical.

Image Courtesy © Gionata Xerra

• Architects: Matteo Thun & Partners
• Project: Therme Meran
• Location: Meran, Italy
• Photography: Gionata Xerra, Oskar Dariz
• Client: Therme Meran AG
• Total Building Area: 56.300 m2
• Start Date: 2003
• End Date: 2005

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