Naked in Salzburg

Paracelsus Bad & Kurhaus

Berger+Parkkinen Architekten, Agrob Buchtal

About

The Para­celsus Bad & Kurhaus, which opened in the 4th quarter of 2019, is already excep­tional because it is located in the middle of the city of Salz­burg (Austria) as a five-storey spa, bathing and sauna world. In addi­tion, the archi­tects from the Vien­nese office Berger+Parkkinen created an impres­sive buil­ding sculp­ture which offers a high degree of secu­rity despite its exten­sive open­ness.

Wall and floor tiles of the Savona series of Agrob Buchtal play a key role in this.
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Situation

The new Para­celsus Bad & Kurhaus is located on the edge of Salzburg’s old town, which is protected as a UNESCO World Heri­tage Site — directly next to the spa gardens and Mira­bell Castle, where people have been bathing and reco­ve­ring already for more than 150 years.

Conti­nuing this tradi­tion was one of the most important goals of the City of Salz­burg when it decided to demo­lish the outdated previous buil­ding from the 1950s and replace it by a new buil­ding with an enlarged range of faci­li­ties.

Three areas

Anyone approa­ching the new buil­ding from the spa gardens will come across a slightly curved mono­li­thic struc­ture, whose clad­ding of vertical marble-white ceramic lamellar elements provides exten­sive open­ness at the same time. “It is only at second glance that you become aware of the classic buil­ding divi­sion into base, beletage and upper floor”, says archi­tect Alfred Berger.

Base floor

The gymnastics, massage and therapy rooms of the Kurhaus as well as the entrance and chan­ging rooms of the swim­ming pool and sauna area are located on the three levels of the base floor.

Behind the glass facade of the beletage, the ceiling of the swim­ming hall, modelled as a gently undu­la­ting spatial sculp­ture, is clearly visible. Above it are the pool and sauna restau­rant as well as the sauna area with four saunas, steam bath and roof terrace with Infi­nity Pool.

Arrival

The fact that the archi­tects have succeeded in crea­ting a uniformly desi­gned buil­ding despite inde­pendently arti­cu­lated areas is already evident in the entrance hall. The focal point is a wide “stairway to heaven” with marble-white terrazzo steps and landings, which seems to lead straight under the undu­la­ting ceiling of the swim­ming hall.

Only when one has reached the cash desk on the 2nd upper floor leading to the bathing and sauna area, the large fixed glazing sepa­ra­ting the entrance area from the bathing world becomes visible.

Changing areas

After the access control, the visi­tors first enter the chan­ging area, whose chan­ging cubicles, striped in light green and blue, are remi­nis­cent of airy beach chairs by the sea.

The 60 cm long porce­lain stone­ware tiles from Agrob Buchtal’s Savona series, laid alter­na­tely in 20 and 30 cm wide strips on walls and floors, also fit into this picture. Their lively, moving surfaces in the shade of lime, toge­ther with the irre­gu­la­rity of the free bond, create a secure, earthy-warm room atmo­sphere.

Stairway to heaven

Via the upper part of the “stairway to heaven”, the bathers finally reach the swim­ming hall with diving plat­form, sports, children’s and family pool. This stair­case opens up visual refe­rences to the entrance hall as well as to the chan­ging and bathing areas and thus signi­fi­cantly faci­li­tates orien­ta­tion in the buil­ding.

It is parti­cu­larly impres­sive when bathers arrive at the large, light-flooded swim­ming hall on their way up — as if “emer­ging” directly from the ground. There, they not only find a spacious bathing land­scape with a seemingly weight­lessly mean­de­ring suspended ceiling, but also a variety of views of Salzburg’s old town and the spa gardens.

Colour composition

A contrast to this over­whel­ming spec­tacle of nature and forms is the restrained colour and mate­rial concept of the bathing land­scape. The sand-brown or white surfaces of the walls and the ceiling are predo­mi­nant, as are the floors, which are also comple­tely covered with lime-coloured tiles from the Savona series.

Thanks to the same size, colour and laying method as in the chan­ging room and the upper “stairway to heaven”, the entire chan­ging and bathing area appears as a coherent space conti­nuum.

The only and thus deter­mi­ning colour accent is provided by the water basins glowing in light turquoise, which are atmo­sphe­ri­cally remi­nis­cent of the many crystal-clear moun­tain lakes in the vici­nity of Salz­burg. This effect is based on 12.5 x 25 cm wall and floor tiles of the Chroma Pool series in the shade of medium turquoise. “The glaze makes the water appear in a natural way as if it were shim­me­ring by itself”, explains Berger.

View of the Mönchsberg

As an inte­gral part of the space conti­nuum of the bathing land­scape, the entire floor of the sauna area on the 5th floor also has porce­lain stone­ware tiles from the Savona series laid in strips, there however in the colour anthr­acite. This colour perfectly harmo­nizes with the wood-covered walls, but also refers to the dark, rugged Mönchs­berg rock, one of the land­marks of Salzburg’s old town.

The tiles are not only to be found in the access and rest areas, but also as an archi­tec­tural link in the showers and in the saunas, some of which are oriented towards the glass facade. “The possi­bi­lity of being able to use Savona anywhere in the swim­ming bath in prin­ciple — on the floor and walls as well as in the water and in the sauna — was decisive for us when it came to selec­ting a suitable tile”, says Berger.
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Infinity Pool on the roof terrace

In both senses of the word, the high­light of every sauna visit at the Para­celsus Bad & Kurhaus undoub­tedly is the outdoor pool on the southern roof terrace, desi­gned as Infi­nity Pool. A small part of the pool serves the sauna guests as a cold plunge pool, while the rest is desi­gned as a 32° warm brine pool.

Thanks to the raised pool on the roof surface with elevated water level and a low over­flow channel on the outside, the view of almost the whole of Salz­burg is unob­s­tructed.

The gently rounded pool edges and the anthr­acite-coloured 5 x 5 cm mosaic tiles of the Chroma Plural series create a deli­cate small-scale struc­ture conveying a feeling of secu­rity and well-being in the pool, which is desi­gned as a nude bathing area. 

Conclusion

Even though the buil­ding opens to the city in many places, this feeling of secu­rity can be expe­ri­enced ever­y­where. It is created not least by the plea­santly consis­tent design concept, which is based on natural colours and mate­rials and thus offers an intui­tively sensual bathing world — an important aspect in a place where people meet in vulnerable nudity.

The Para­celsus Bad & Kurhaus offers great gestures and finest details. It offers its guests a wide range of services in many diffe­rent areas. Through the skilful combi­na­tion of flowing floor plans and rich mate­rials, it is an extra­or­di­nary expe­ri­ence in every space.
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Compa­nies involved & Links

Client

Photos

Michael Chris­tian Peters
Chris­tian Rich­ters

Text

Johannes Bühl­be­cker
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Architectes

Berger+Parkkinen Archi­tekten
Schön­brunner Straße 213–215
A — 1120 Wien

Opening

2019

Tiles

Agrob Buchtal GmbH
Buchtal 1
D‑92521 Schwar­zen­feld

 

Address

Para­celsus Bad & Kurhaus
Auer­sperg­straße 2
A — 5020 Salz­burg

 

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