Bathing Pavilion: Dante’s Inferno

Stanley Tigerman was one of the central figures of the Chicago Seven, a group of first generation postmodern architects. Although he has designed numerous buildings and installations around the world, he has also designed numerous theoretical projects. His utopian work is marked by humor, a certain form of derision and allegory.
The bathing pavilion proposal for Kohler Company falls into this latter category. Mixing functional design and mythology, he takes the opposite view of the conception of such a space, supposed to be intimate but welcoming. Tigerman’s proposal presents a separation of functions and uses, each with an altar space. The representation of the project is largely inspired by illustrations of the beginning of the Italian Renaissance. It is also a tribute in the form of inspiration from Dante’s Inferno, from the epic poem Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy) by Dante Alighieri (14th century).