Shotwell Residence — Spa Architecture

Status

In Progress

Scale

3,200 sf | 300 sm

Typology

Spa, Residential

Scope

Architecture, Interiors, Objects

Client

Confidential

Project Team

Mei-Lan Tan, Katie Marr, Anh Tang

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.

Candid black-and-white photo of women bathing in a communal Japanese bathhouse, with a cat in the foreground.

A candid moment at a typical neighborhood sentō—casual and spontaneous. The bathing ritual is not just a pool in the center of the room; the walls host activity too.

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.

Steam rises from a wood-clad soaking tub surrounded by plants within a private portion of the garden.

The outdoor soaking tub is its own private moment within the Zen garden.

Large glass doors connect the interior of the spa to a private section of the garden. A stone sink and custom metal accessories fill the interior.

A heavy stone sink is mounted on one side of a central tiled wall. A large glass door to the garden is visible beyond.

A center wall divides the wet room, setting up a circular bathing sequence. Custom metal elements, such as the pole-mounted mirror and tray, elevate the space beyond its essential functions.

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.

“A garden spa—to be enjoyed alone or with a few close friends—encourages a languid, relaxed sense of time and circulation within the space itself.”

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Site photograph of the client's lush backyard garden, with the carriage house just visible at left.

The spa was planned around the walnut tree.

Architectural elevation drawing of the house, garden, and carriage house with outdoor soaking tub.

Architectural floor plan showing the spa and circular hot tub within the outdoor garden.

Shotwell

California, USA

“A garden spa—to be enjoyed alone or with a few close friends—encourages a languid, relaxed sense of time and circulation within the space itself.”

A quiet yet unexpected wet room is elevated beyond its essential functions with custom-designed accessories, plants, and stones integrated throughout the indoor-outdoor space.