Shotwell

At the back of a Victorian home in the Mission District, San Francisco, a historic carriage house is reimagined as a spa for both personal and social use.

The client’s favorite space at home was his Zen garden, with a walnut tree and a large stone, which separated home and carriage house. Due to constraints in the main structure, the new primary bath could not be expanded to suit the client’s vision of a meditative bath circuit. However, the carriage house offered a special opportunity to insert this program within the garden itself, giving him a new way to savor this peaceful outdoor space.

Clad with Douglas fir for consistency with the main house, the carriage house features a quiet yet unexpected wet room. Divided by a center wall, the plan sets up a circular sequence for the bathing ritual. The entry side welcomes with a substantial stone sink; the other side features a shower and steam room with custom furniture. A sauna is tucked in at the back of the space. Referencing the interiors of urban sentō and other communal bathhouses, the room is clad entirely in small marble tiles—a utilitarian material applied to an entirely custom room. Diluting the boundary between interior and exterior, large glass doors open from the wet room onto a small, screened courtyard with an oversized soaking tub. Plants and stones are integrated both inside and outside, further blurring the spaces into one.

Custom metal elements, including a pole-mounted mirror and tray, elevate the room beyond its essential functions. Other simple additions, such as a cold water pitcher or carafe for tea, encourage a languid, relaxed sense of time and circulation within the space itself—with no need to hurry to leave.

The client envisioned spending time in his garden spa with a few close friends; enjoying the heat of the soaking tub on an overcast, chilly San Francisco day; and relaxing in the enveloping warmth of the steam room, surrounded by greenery.