![indoor pool that is gently lit up at night](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-11-1024x681.jpg)
Steam the Day Away in New York’s Latest Bathhouse Locale
Jason Goodman and Travis Talmadge founded Bathhouse to fill a gap in New York’s wellness scene. Somewhere between a luxury spa and a spartan Russian banya, it combines the social aspects of bathing culture around the world with moody lighting, modern amenities, and restorative treatments. Bathhouse debuted in Williamsburg in 2019. A second location just opened in January in Manhattan’s Flatiron District with interiors by Rockwell Group. (Colberg Architecture served as partner architect.)
How Rockwell Group Created an Urban Oasis for the New Bathhouse
![indoor pool that is lit up by fluorescent lights](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-4-1024x683.jpg)
![indoor pool that is lit up by fluorescent lights](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-4-1024x683.jpg)
The project intrigued Rockwell Group founder and president David Rockwell, an Interior Design Hall of Famer whose firm celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. “An urban oasis was something I hadn’t done before,” he says. The 35,000-square-foot, three-story space is mostly underground: Guests enter on the ground level, but the pools, saunas, treatment rooms, and café are all below. The subterranean location evoked a sense of drama for Rockwell, who is also a Tony Award–winning set designer (his latest is the Broadway revival of Doubt). He and his team conceived a backstory based on the narrative template of the Hero’s Journey, creating a series of portals that lead visitors down to the baths.
![interior sauna area with bright orange lighting](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-10-1024x683.jpg)
![interior sauna area with bright orange lighting](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-10-1024x683.jpg)
“We added a ritualistic aspect to passing through the different spaces,” Rockwell notes. There’s a sense of adventure and curiosity as one moves deeper inside. On the ground floor, a black-granite wall with a vertical strip of light marks the staircase entry, while in the corridor leading to the below-grade treatment area, walls of layered travertine in slightly different colors—dark to light—allude to rock strata, as if descending through the earth. Other thresholds use fluted glass, mirrors, or compression; one domed vestibule has a Dean Barger mural. On the lowest level, guests receive the payoff: pools illuminated in tones corresponding to temperature. Some sit under inverted metallic-painted pyramids with a cavity that emits color-changing light, which you can only see from the water. It’s like discovering a mythic civilization under West 22nd Street.
Explore the Newest Bathhouse in New York’s Flatiron District, Designed by Rockwell Group
![indoor pool that is gently lit up at night](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-11-1024x681.jpg)
![indoor pool that is gently lit up at night](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-11-1024x681.jpg)
![indoor pool that is gently lit up at night](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-11-1024x681.jpg)
![David Rockwell headshot](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-683x1024.jpg)
![David Rockwell headshot](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-683x1024.jpg)
![woman standing in the middle of the pool](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-6-768x1024.jpg)
![woman standing in the middle of the pool](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-6-768x1024.jpg)
![dining room with moody lighting and curved furniture](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-9-1024x687.jpg)
![dining room with moody lighting and curved furniture](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-9-1024x687.jpg)
![interior shopping area that is lit by fluorescent lighting and has platforms in the middle](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-7-1024x683.jpg)
![interior shopping area that is lit by fluorescent lighting and has platforms in the middle](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-7-1024x683.jpg)
![interior of one of the spa rooms with wooden columns and stone walls](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-5-1024x683.jpg)
![interior of one of the spa rooms with wooden columns and stone walls](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-5-1024x683.jpg)
![long hallway with dark moody lighting](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-3-819x1024.jpg)
![long hallway with dark moody lighting](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-3-819x1024.jpg)
![dark moody room with comfy couches](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-8-731x1024.jpg)
![dark moody room with comfy couches](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-8-731x1024.jpg)
![corner of room with dark walls and moody lighting](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-2-819x1024.jpg)
![corner of room with dark walls and moody lighting](https://interiordesign.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/InteriorDesign_March2024_bathhouse-2-819x1024.jpg)
read more
Projects
TPG Architecture Reinvents the Office to Prioritize Connection
Though this financial firm’s New York office can accommodate 300 employees, TPG Architecture skipped the sea of desks in favor of intimate team rooms.
Projects
Arcadis Revamps Their Coral Gables Offices
The new hospitality-inflected workplace for Arcadis in Coral Gables, Florida features a crisp industrial palette and plenty of natural light.
Projects
Inside Boston Consulting Group’s New York Locale
Seeking to expand its headquarters at 10 Hudson Yards, Boston Consulting Group took over an additional floor designed by IA Interior Architects.