Ten Commandments Tuomas Toivonen of the Public Bath

Bathing Together Is the Opposite of Warfare: The Public Bath as Evidence of Civilization as an Apparatus to Produce Pleasure and Health to the Social, Cultural, and Individual Body

In the late 1940s, the Finnish Union of Commercial Saunas issued a single-page document titled “The Ten Commandments of the Bather,” to be displayed at all public saunas. The context: postwar Finland was rebuilding—modernizing through urbanization. Refugees and displaced people from lost territories were being absorbed into the rapidly growing cities, coalescing around state-orchestrated industrialization. It was a time of scarcity and rationing, with people living very close to one another, especially in urban centers. The sauna as an insti- tution for both pleasure and health has always been essential to Finnish culture, and in cities every neighborhood had its own public saunas, serving the influx of rural newcomers along with their established clientele. All were Finns, and thus accustomed to sauna practice, but not necessarily in the setting of the public bath. Hence, the guide for bathing together.

20 Harvard Design Magazine No. 40 / Well, Well, Well 21 I Behave well in the sauna at all times, as it is a “sacred” place III Take enough steam, but do not spoil the sauna of others by exces- according to the ways of our ancestors. sive “athletic” steam pouring. In the sauna, use as little water as possible—a “drier” steam is more pleasurable for you and your As the cleanest space in one’s home or village—disinfected co-bathers. Do not soften your whisk on the stove, as it may pro- with smoke, and with hot water and heat—the sauna was used duce undesirable odors and spoil your whisk’s aroma. in ancient times not only for washing and bathing, but as a site for birthing, healing, surgery, and washing the dead before More than creating a space for physical bathing, the architec- burial. The sauna is likened to a shrine, with the stove as its ture of the bath requires—and creates—a space of anti-conflict, Somali refugees gather at the market at altar. The pouring of water onto the hot rocks is a sort of anti-competition, and anti-hierarchy. The space of communal Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. offering; the kiuas (stove) accepts this offering and responds bathing is enclosed, civil, and polite, every bather autonomously by releasing steam into the room. While many of these performing his or her own version of an agreed set of practices, sauna-related rituals and customs have disappeared, traces without interfering with others. This autarchic coexistence—and remain still that carry echoes of this sacred history. Even today, the bath as the space that enables it—is the antithesis of the every Finn knows that laughing, shouting, clapping hands, space of warfare, engendered by a violent negotiation of bound- whistling, or cursing are unacceptable, as they disrespect the aries where individuals and technology are aggregated into a Somali refugees gather at the market at Somali refugees gather at the market at Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. sanctity of the sauna. military apparatus, assembled to destroy, dominate, delineate, and dictate any human, architectural, or political limits. II Do not come to the sauna intoxicated, or bring intoxicating substances, according to the city police order law §8. IV Do not use any soap in the sauna, as its slipperiness has caused many unfortunate accidents. Do not take bottles or other glass One of the earliest written accounts of a sweat-bath can be objects into the washing hall or sauna, as they will cause injuries found in Herodotus’s 5th-century BCE Histories. He describes if they shatter. Scythian traditions for burial and related bathing rituals, which take place in felt tents erected over pits with hot stones. To bathe is to be vulnerable—naked, hot, and wet. Our bodies In addition to bathing, he explains, the sweat-bath is used to must enter the architecture of the bath without mediating layers Somali refugees gather at the market at Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. induce intoxication (with the help of hemp seeds): “The of clothing, without foreign objects. In medieval Europe, harsh Scythians, as I said, take some of this hemp-seed, and, creeping punishments were exacted for crimes committed within the

under the felt coverings, throw it upon the red-hot stones; Somali refugees gather at the market at bathhouse. Like churches, bathhouses forbade the bearing of immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapour as no Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. arms, and bath keepers had the right to refuse or expel bathers Grecian vapour-bath can exceed; the Scyths, delighted, shout for misconduct, drunkenness, indecent behavior, or failing to for joy, and this vapour serves them instead of a water-bath; for respect the bath rights of others. they never by any chance wash their bodies with water.” Hero- In late Roman Empire thermae, bathers would undress and dotus, who regards the Scythians as curious, uncivilized savag- give their clothes to the capsarii, a class of slaves whose duty es, reveals diverging tendencies between the character of their was to guard them. Eventually, these keepers of garments be- tribal ritual baths and the urban “civilized” bathing practice Somali refugees gather at the market at came, according to lexicographer William Smith, “notorious for Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. of the Greeks. This implies that already at the time of Herodo- dishonesty, and leagued with all the thieves of the city, so that tus, the Greek vapor bath was a public institution where the rule they connived at the robberies they were placed there to prevent.” of law, strictness of conduct, and social order were imperative To suppress thievery, the crime of stealing in the baths was made to the private and volatile pleasures of intoxication. a capital offence.

22 Harvard Design Magazine No. 40 / Well, Well, Well 23 V Wash yourself thoroughly, but do not use water wastefully. Fill your — A bathing space with a stone boundary sectioning bucket first with cold water before dispensing a suitable amount of off the fire, which is kept going until the stone boundary hot water. After washing, take a shower, but do not stay there too radiates heat (Roman hypocaust, Turkish hammam, long, as there are others waiting for their turn. Do not splash or Korean ondol) sprinkle your washing water onto others. — A natural source of heat with a structure built around it to trap or regulate it (Japanese onsen, Icelandic saunas The English word “bath,” originates from a Proto-Indo-Europe- built on top of hot springs, Italian volcanic cave baths) an root word –bhe, “to warm.” Washing oneself is part of bath- ing practice, but bathing always involves more than the simple VI Spitting is disgusting in general, but particularly offensive on management of one’s hygiene. The aim of the bath is to induce these premises. Do not leave behind any paper trash or cigarette

Somali refugees gather at the market at a state of heat to the body. To achieve this, the bather makes an butts; place them in their correct receptacles. In the dressing Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. excursion into non-habitual or uncomfortable ambient condi- room, practice utmost cleanliness in all conduct. tions—hot water, steam, dry radiant heat, possibly coupled with plunges in cold water or cooling off in a light breeze, helping The bathhouse has been the continuous locus of debate and the body tolerate the artificial fever state, washing off sweat and drama, both comedy and tragedy, on hygiene and morality. increasing circulation. During the Middle Ages, laws were passed to close bathhouses, Sunbathing is the simplest form of the bath, with the body as they were suspected of being a vector of the plague. At absorbing solar heat and occasionally dipping into a nearby other times, baths and nudity were regarded as indecent (in body of water. In cold, sunless climates, alternative practices Somali refugees gather at the market at some places, bathhouses are synonymous with brothels); while Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. have been developed. Ethnographer Sakari Pälsi describes how in other contexts and times, the institution of the public bath the Inuit “bathe” by stripping naked and running in the arctic and bathing traditions were celebrated in religious propaganda wind until breaking a sweat. Pälsi compares this to an old Finn- and imagery. ish tradition: in early spring just when the lake ice starts to melt, A curious example can be found in certain depictions of a large bonfire is built, allowing people to swim in the cold lake, Adam and Eve, who cover themselves with what appear to be and then dry in the radiance of the pyre. Beyond this point, sauna whisks, very similar to those still used in Scandinavia, architecture becomes the primary device for creating and the Baltics, and Russia. The origins of this iconography are in controlling the climatic conditions necessary for bathing. medieval processions: in many towns, the bath keepers—typ- Somali refugees gather at the market at Several typologies and techniques have developed throughout Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. ically a man and a wife—would play the parts of Adam and Somali refugees gather at the market at Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. the world: Eve. In the eyes of a mostly illiterate audience, the image — A wooden building containing a large stationary mass of bath keepers became synonymous with the biblical first man of fire-heated stones that give off stored heat after the fire and woman, and this whisk-bearing representation of Adam has been extinguished (a Finnish smoke sauna, Estonian and Eve sprung up in altarpieces and church frescoes. However, suitsusaun, or Russian black banya). by the 16th century, European urban bathing culture had waned, — Hot stones from a bonfire are brought in to heat a tent and the bath had retreated to the edges—to islands, mountains,

Somali refugees gather at the market at (Lappish kota-sauna, Scythian tent, Native American Inipi to the north and the east, where it was folded into local sweat- Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. sweat lodge) bath traditions like the Finnish sauna, the Baltic saun/pirtjes, or — A stone room where an open fire is extinguished once the Russian banya. the walls are sufficiently heated (Irish sweathouses, Korean hanjeungmak, ancient Greek cave baths, Mexican temazcal)

24 Harvard Design Magazine No. 40 / Well, Well, Well 25 VII When bath keepers offer beverages or services, remember to pay for imperial public baths, thermae, grew in scale, their plans be- them on your way out. came elaborations of possible choreographies of bathing and sequences of spaces with different atmospheric and calefactory It seems natural to expel transactions of “dirty” money from qualities. These baths were open to all, free of charge, and each clean spaces, enhancing the public bath’s essence as a space of emperor tried to eclipse his predecessors with newer, bigger, trust—and therefore also potentially as a space of debt. Before more luxurious buildings. As Rome expanded, the empire need- homes had bathrooms, public baths were solid businesses, and ed new sources of water, and so they built aqueducts crossing in many instances being a bath keeper was a restricted trade. the landscape into the city, terminating in enormous bath com- There are numerous cases of medieval Europen cities and plexes. These were total environments, providing a site for a new thrones that established bathhouse monopolies to fund public form of public social life: hedonism, hygiene, culture, and en- buildings and institutions. In fact, the bathhouse-as-business tertainment. They were concretizations of the emperor’s benev- Somali refugees gather at the market at Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. plays a significant part in the origins of Uppsala University in olence, and became an architectural device for the fabrication Sweden. The university was established in 1477, with Pope Six- of political power and popularity: there is no such thing as a free tus IV granting it operating rights. At the time, public baths were bath (or bread or circus). owned and operated by the same ecclesiastical order as the uni- versity. In 1570, after the Reformation, during which the crown VIII If you are dressed and ready, and others are waiting, let them have seized control of all the church’s properties, the crown allocated your place. the profits of the public bath to cover the costs of maintaining the city’s public buildings. This could be regarded as an early If you are dressed, you no longer belong to the space of the model of the Nordic welfare state, linking the establishment of bath. In the earliest depiction of the Finnish sauna dating from state monopolies, education, and public infrastructures that 1799, Italian explorer Giuseppe Acerbi places himself into the frame the daily lives of citizens. drawing of the bathing scene he witnessed. He depicts himself The link between academia and the bath can be traced as a bold adventurer who courageously enters the exotic and back to the Greek gymnasion, a school or, literally, a place for extreme environment of the sauna. However, Acerbi rather “exercising in the nude.” In its simplest form, the palaestra con- appears as the uncivilized intruder, entering the space in taboo tained the necessary spaces for physical and intellectual exercise. fashion—with his clothes on. He remains at the doorway,

Somali refugees gather at the market at The southern side housed the intellectual realm, with colon- Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. holding the door open, letting both cold air in and steam out. nades and alcoves for learning and conversing; the northern His intrusion reveals him to be an ignorant oaf, spoiling the side housed the athletic facilities, xysti and stadiums for running sauna for the other bathers. and wrestling; in between the two, uniting mind and body, was the bathhouse. Both sport and debate are competitive in nature, IX Concerning possible issues, shortcomings or problems in the but as the arrangement of the bath suggests, bathing is a unify- bathhouse, or about the conduct of staff, compose a written letter ing, common practice; it is a personal ritual that necessitates a including your name and address. noncompetitive space of reconciliation. The spatial arrangement of the Greek bath and gymnasi- During the Roman Empire, aediles were citizens appointed to um influenced the Roman bath’s layout, which expanded both be in charge of the upkeep and operation of public institutions. the spatial sequence and apparatus of bathing and the num- Aediles responsible for baths would ensure and test the proper ber of other adjoining functions—halls and courts for sport, heating of water and air, the cleanliness and repair of the build- Somali refugees gather at the market at reading, entertainment, philosophy, debate, music, drama. As Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. ing, and general adherence to rules and laws in the bath.

26 Harvard Design Magazine No. 40 / Well, Well, Well 27 In Tacitus’s Annals, a passage describes how aediles test the YouthfulnessYouthfulness withoutwithout YouthYouth DeaneDeane SimpsonSimpson water temperature of pools by hand, the “old-fashioned way.” Vitruvius dedicates a short chapter of De Architectura to the con- struction of baths. He describes the bathhouse’s orientation and spatial arrangement in relation to the furnace, the structure and materials of the hypocaust heating system (a raised floor with fire or hot smoke below), the materials and construction tech- nique of vaults for hot and humid spaces, the dimensioning of the bathhouse and its individual rooms, and the technical devic- es used to control the heat in the dry sweat-bath of the laconicum. We can imagine Vitruvius visiting a bath, frustrated by the rotting wood in the vaults of the caldarium, or the too tight dimensioning in washrooms that resulted in crowds form- ing around freshwater basins, or light falling from the wrong direction. However, Vitruvius does not voice his complaints to the aedile in charge, but includes his observations in his treatise, as instructions directed to future builders of baths, or as advice for owners—perhaps the emperor—to not tolerate such mis- takes and incompetence.

Deane Simpson, The Villages of Florida, Lake Sumter Landing Deane Simpson, The Villages of Florida, Lake Sumter Landing InIn 2006, 2006, an an Orlando, Orlando, Florida, Florida, news news station station ran ran “low“low suburban suburban density density and and the the abundant abundant services services X By following these commandments, you will make both your Market Square, 2015. Market Square, 2015. aa story story entitled, entitled, “STDs “STDs Running Running Rampant Rampant in in typicaltypical of of cities.” cities.” These These services services are are injected injected Retirement Community.” The article cited a into extensive recreational and entertainment and your co-bather’s stay in the sauna bath comfortable. High cultivated green Retirement Community.” The article cited a into extensive recreational and entertainment gynecologistgynecologist at at the the world’s world’s largest largest retirement retirement infrastructures—theinfrastructures—the latter latter centered centered on on three three Mid cultivated green community,community, The The Villages, Villages, stating stating that that she she saw saw “downtowns,”“downtowns,” which which function function as as social social hubs, hubs, High surface moremore patients patients with with diseases diseases like like herpes herpes and and HPV HPV offeringoffering nightly nightly happy happy hour, hour, free free live live music, music, there than at her Miami practice. entertainment, and dancing. Water there than at her Miami practice. entertainment, and dancing. The idea of common rules establishing a commons—or pub- Health professionals attributed this surge Designed by one of the architects of Communal / Recreational Health professionals attributed this surge Designed by one of the architects of lic space—is clearly articulated. The earliest cities were places toto three three factors: factors: the the use use of of Viagra, Viagra, the the low low risk risk UniversalUniversal Studios Studios theme theme park, park, the the downtowns downtowns Leisure / Tourist site ofof pregnancy, pregnancy, and and the the dearth dearth of of sex sex education education areare conceived conceived to to embody embody the the developer’s developer’s slogan slogan for trading, where the tax and laws enabled transactions inside Cinema amongamong residents. residents. This This explanation explanation brings brings to to the the “Florida’s“Florida’s Friendliest Friendliest Hometown.” Hometown.” The The design design fore characteristics of a cohort whose formative strategy is based on emulating the small towns Meeting place fore characteristics of a cohort whose formative strategy is based on emulating the small towns yearsyears occurred occurred prior prior to to the the first first sexualsexual revolutionrevolution fromfrom which which many many of of the the residents residents originate—in originate—in city limits by minimizing the threat of violence or robbery. With Information center andand the the emergence emergence of of HIV—a HIV—a cohort cohort repre repre-- bothboth architecture architecture and and programming. programming. There There Somali refugees gather at the market at commerce being more efficient than looting or bartering, the city Retail sentingsenting a a new new market market segment segment referred referred to to as as the the areare late late 19th-century-themed 19th-century-themed buildings buildings and and Hagadaera camp in Dadaab, Kenya, 2009. “ageless consumer.” In article “New Sex for Old: fabricated ruins of railway stations paired with Shopping “ageless consumer.” In article “New Sex for Old: fabricated ruins of railway stations paired with Lifestyle,Lifestyle, Consumerism, Consumerism, and and the the Ethics Ethics of of Aging Aging classicclassic car car shows, shows, cheerleading cheerleading performances, performances, became a successful streamlined script and form for mercantile Restaurants Well,”Well,” sociologists sociologists Stephen Stephen Katz Katz and and Barbara Barbara andand 1950s-themed 1950s-themed drive-in drive-in diners. diners. This This con con-- interactions. Within the relative peace of the city, other spaces Bar MarshallMarshall relate relate this this ideal—a ideal—a posthuman posthuman subject subject structionstruction of of “resilient “resilient time” time” is is underwritten underwritten by by emancipated from decline—to “broadening con- age restrictions in the 55+ community’s bylaws Real estate sales emancipated from decline—to “broadening con- age restrictions in the 55+ community’s bylaws nections between the new and sexually fit aging; (visits by guests under age 19 are restricted to could be established with further elaborated limits and free- Commercial (non-retail) nections between the new and sexually fit aging; (visits by guests under age 19 are restricted to thethe marketing, marketing, pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical, and and consumerist consumerist 3030 days days per per year). year). It It is is in in these these terms terms that that The The doms. The public bath appears as a stage where individuals can Office industriesindustries that that cater cater to to it; it; and and the the concurrent concurrent VillagesVillages functions functions as as a a spatiotemporal spatiotemporal scaffold scaffold Planting neoliberalneoliberal political political agendas agendas that that require require people people forfor a a utopia utopia of of youthfulness—one youthfulness—one paradoxically paradoxically to adopt risk-aversive, active, self-reliant life- predicated on the elimination of youth and the participate in a collective performance of edification, and can Security to adopt risk-aversive, active, self-reliant life- predicated on the elimination of youth and the styles.”styles.” This This emerging emerging ethos, ethos, they they say, say, “liber “liber-- suppressionsuppression of of the the new. new. Parking areas reach a state of mental and physical well-being. The sophisticat- at[es]at[es] sexual sexual performance performance from from whatever whatever limits limits ThisThis evokes evokes Ellen Ellen Langer’s Langer’s 1981 1981 “Counter “Counter-- thethe aging aging body body might might impose impose on on it it through through clockwise”clockwise” study, study, where where eight eight men men in in their their 70s 70s ed social contract of mutual respect, sharing of space, and quiet disease,disease, genetics, genetics, or or physical physical defection.” defection.” werewere immersed immersed in in the the environmental environmental cues cues of of ThisThis explanation, explanation, however, however, neglects neglects the the role role 1959.1959. After After five five days,days, sheshe documenteddocumented remarkremark-- played by the spatiotemporal construction of the able psychological and physiological improve- togetherness become manifest evidence of civilization. Deane Simpson is a Copenhagen-based architect, researcher, and played by the spatiotemporal construction of the able psychological and physiological improve- educatorDeane Simpson teaching is ata Copenhagen-basedthe Royal Danish Academy architect, of researcher, Fine Arts and community.community. When When new new residents residents buy buy a a home home in in ments.ments. Just Just as as Langer’s Langer’s group group temporarily temporarily rein rein-- Schooleducator of Architectureteaching at the and Royal at the Danish Bergen Academy School of of Architec Fine Arts- The Villages’ sprawling exurban development of habited their younger selves, the self-described School of Architecture and at the Bergen School of Architec- The Villages’ sprawling exurban development of habited their younger selves, the self-described ture. He is the author of Young-Old: Urban Utopias of an Aging predominantly single-“family” detached houses, “rebirth” of many of The Villages’ residents ture. He is the author of Young-Old: Urban Utopias of an Aging predominantly single-“family” detached houses, “rebirth” of many of The Villages’ residents Society (2015); coeditor of the forthcoming Atlas of the Copen- they also buy an idealized lifestyle that reconciles operates at a range of levels, including that of a hagensSociety (2015) (2015); with coeditor Kathrin of Gimmel,the forthcoming Marc Jay, Atlas Anders of the Lonka, Copen- they also buy an idealized lifestyle that reconciles operates at a range of levels, including that of a andhagens Joost (2015) Grootens; with Kathrin and coauthor Gimmel, of DillerMarc +ScofidioJay, Anders (+ Lonka, Renfro): twotwo previously previously irreconcilable irreconcilable utopias—those, utopias—those, to to newnew found found promiscuity promiscuity among among a a group group Marshall Marshall Tuomas Toivonen is an architect. He is the proprietor and operator of a public sauna in Helsinki, Finland. Theand Ciliary Joost Grootens;Function (2007) and coauthor with Guido of Diller Incerti +Scofidio and Daria (+ Ricchi. Renfro): borrow sociologist Marco d’Eramo’s terms, of refers to as “sexy seniors.” The Ciliary Function (2007) with Guido Incerti and Daria Ricchi. borrow sociologist Marco d’Eramo’s terms, of refers to as “sexy seniors.”

28 Harvard Design Magazine No. 40 / Well, Well, Well 29 Do You Read Me? 21