Courthouse architecture is defined by civic and monumental designs. These projects establish contemporary expressions that move beyond vernacular traditions to explore modern aesthetics and new forma approaches. As prominent landmarks in a city, courthouses reflect the beliefs, priorities, and aspirations of a people. They are also a meeting ground, cultural hub, and social gathering place.
The relationship between building envelope and structure remains a centerpiece of architecture. Understanding a building's skin is how designs become open or closed, controlling environmental conditions, light and views. Whether perforated, slotted or modular, brise-soleils are elegant envelopes that create new spatial conditions. This is especially true in France, where architects are rethinking tradition to bring new screened structures to life.
From playful indoor pools to tranquil exterior fountains to soaring waterfalls and grand lakes of enormous proportions, architecture throughout the centuries has engaged with water in endlessly innovative ways. Sometimes serving aesthetic purposes, but just as often acting as centers of activity or promoting sustainability, water features can take countless different forms and serve multiple different purposes. Below, we synthesize a series of water features espoused by innovative contemporary architectural projects, ranging from single-family residential homes to vast commercial complexes.
Spas, swimming pools, and saunas are spaces to which we turn in search of positive experiences, especially healing and sanitation. What characterizes all of these spaces is a requirement to wear little clothing--or even none at all--meaning that these spaces have very different expectations regarding nudity, privacy, and the human body when compared to other forms of architecture. From the point of view of design, nudity requires specific spatial conditions, forcing architects to think carefully about details such as the opacity of materials and the dimensions of space. With this in mind, this week we present a selection of the 15 best images of healing spaces, captured by renowned photographers such as Kevin Scott, Clément Guillaume, and Marcello Mariana.
https://www.archdaily.com/887350/architecture-and-the-bare-body-15-spaces-for-healing-relaxing-and-bathingArchDaily Team
![Media Library [Third-Place] in Thionville / Dominique Coulon & associés - Library](https://snoopy.archdaily.com/images/archdaily/media/images/5894/ff7f/e58e/ce6e/c700/06cc/slideshow/32_THIONVILLE_Coulon_Ass.-Thionville42408_©Eugeni_Pons-web.jpg?1486159736&format=webp&width=640&height=429)
![Media Library [Third-Place] in Thionville / Dominique Coulon & associés - More Images](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5894/ff7f/e58e/ce6e/c700/06cc/newsletter/32_THIONVILLE_Coulon_Ass.-Thionville42408_©Eugeni_Pons-web.jpg?1486159736)
