Guemes Island Bathhouse

The Guemes Island Bathhouse serves as a shared sanctuary within the established Guemes Island Resort, a destination known for its collection of rustic vacation cabin rentals in Washington’s San Juan Islands. Rather than a single monolithic building, the facility is conceived as three distinct charred-wood "boxes" placed within the forest. This fragmented approach allows the architecture to weave between the trees, minimizing the impact on the site while framing specific, curated views of the Puget Sound through the dense canopy.

The project is defined by its sophisticated materiality and its integration with the Northwest landscape. Each volume is clad in Shou Sugi Ban siding, which allows the structures to recede into the shadows of the forest. To further soften their presence, the buildings features green roofs planted with native grasses . From the higher elevations of the resort trails, the bathhouse appears not as a roofline, but as an extension of the forest floor, blending the man-made structures into the environment.

The interior program is divided to create a rhythmic experience of heat, water, and air. One volume houses the sauna where a large picture window maintains a visual connection to the woods. A second volume serves utilitarian functions housing the mechanical room, bathroom, and shower. The third and primary volume contains three concrete soaking pools that open over the shoreline, making the boundary between the heated waters and the cool Sound virtually disappear. The interior of main pools is clad in a light cedar with minimalist "star" lighting. These volumes are connected and tied together through an open-air "social porch," that provides a place for guests to transition between the various thermal experiences.