2025 Graduation Project 'Bathing in the Earth' by Itsuki Uraisami — IDREIT®

Nowadays, people's development has made life more convenient, but at the same time, it has become difficult to appreciate the blessings of the earth like in the past. Therefore, we plan a building that allows people to face the earth and experience its blessings.

We use a technique called earthing to touch the earth. Earthing means touching the earth directly with the skin, such as the hands and bare feet. By connecting with the earth directly through the skin, you can feel the presence of the earth and its richness with your body. The act of bathing is also a mystical act of entering naked into water that springs from the earth. On such an occasion to bathe, we propose a spa bathing in the earth, where you can experience the highest level of earthing by touching the elements of the earth with your whole body.

The target site is the former Maeyama quarry in the Ishikiri Mountains in Kasama City, Ibaraki Prefecture. It is a land surrounded by nature and rich in nature, with a lake in the center formed by the accumulation of spring water that gushed out during the mining process. We plan to use Inada stone quarried here to perform earthing by touching the earth.

Next, the design method. The site is a depression, and the volume of the building is placed so as to return the stones that were there before. At the Maeyama Quarry, stone blocks 3m high were cut out and mined, so there are staircase-like steps in the rock walls every 3m. The shape of the building is determined by using these 3m heights to stack stone layers. In addition, stone blocks used during mining are inserted and removed to create openings and bathtubs, evoking the mining process.

To enhance the effect of earthing, bathtubs are set up that allow you to come into contact with various elements of the earth. Bathtubs with different temperatures that allow you to feel the energy of the underground, bathtubs that allow you to manipulate the water to make you aware of gravity, bathtubs that allow you to feel the echoes of light and sound reflected on the water surface and walls, and bathtubs with a view of the lake using an outdoor spa are created by manipulating the water temperature, depth, and shape according to the bathtub.

In addition to the spa, the facility has a restaurant where you can feel the earth through food, a stone processing plant where you can learn about the quarrying process and stones, and a rooftop space where you can see and touch the rock surface, so that earthing can be done by people other than those using the spa facilities.

The site is a former rocky mountain, but has been artificially quarried, giving thanks to the earth's blessings, such as stones, hot springs, and nature, and to human development, and we propose an architecture that allows people to face the vast earth naked and bask in it wholeheartedly.