Project Architect and Visualizer

Lighting Designer

Germany 2024

Thalasso Zentrum

The Thalasso Zentrum is located at the North Sea beach in Horumersiel Village in the northeastern tongue of East Frisian.

Thalassotherapy (from the Greek word thalassa, meaning "sea") is the use of seawater as a form of therapy. It is based on the systematic use of seawater, sea products, and shore climate. The origins of thermal baths and related treatments can be traced back to remote antiquity. Romans were firm believers in the virtues of thermalism and thalassotherapy. The therapy is applied in various forms, such as showers of warmed seawater, the application of marine mud or algae paste, or the inhalation of sea fog.

The architecture concept of the Thalasso Zentrum “Path To Nature” can be defined by simplicity of form and material, inspired by the essence of Thalasso therapy. The architectural concept was realized by reducing the form and material pallet to a few natural materials such as brick, concrete, and untreated wood. The essence of the design can be summarized as Simple - Clear - Pure - Reduced – Natural.

The exterior lighting scheme is proposed in line with architectural concepts and intent to create simple, clear, and pure forms and perceptions. The grazing down lighting with warm white temperature creates a very calm, uninterrupted, and homogeneous lighting scheme. The down lighting technique was chosen to accentuate the brick material of the building in the vertical plane and also create a pool of light in a horizontal plane around the building for direction finding. Furthermore, the building gradually dissolves into its dark surroundings with minimum interruption of the village's subtle lighting mood.

The balcony and terrasse were lit by cove lighting, which emphasizes the different layers of the building, highlights the architecture, and creates a subtle effect, in line with the main lighting scheme. The emergency staircase was highlighted by the integration of linear lighting into the handrail. The outcome creates also a silhouette effect that portrays the rather interesting geometry of the staircase.