SPA-SINO: SMOKESCREEN AND MIRRORS

by Ceri Baxter

In a world where facial recognition data is a commodity to swap for goods and services, the Spa-sino is an experimental playground of privacy in the public domain. The two programmes are on completely opposing ends of the spectrum of privacy - the first being a casino, a public space that is heavily controlled and surveilled, and the second being an intensely private spa. Allowing visitors to gamble their anonymity away as well as their money, the casino aspect of the project is laden with reminders that every action is being watched - the walls comprise of monitors on walls displaying CCTV camera footage from surveillance cameras built into the fabric of the building. The spa achieves privacy through deception, utilising reflections from water and steam from the sauna to dupe casino-goers looking in. The result is a series of interlocking spaces that are connected through a series of isovists, channelling controlled views both into and out of the building.