Spain turned a traffic roundabout into a public bath; the 6-day experiment was later named a climate refuge
In Logroño, Spain, a traffic roundabout was temporarily transformed into a public bath, turning a space normally dominated by passing cars into a place for bathing and gathering. Called Round About Baths , the installation was designed by Leopold Banchini Architects for the 2025 edition of the Concéntrico architecture and design festival. Built around an existing fountain at the roundabout at Plaza Salón, on Gran Vía, the project added changing rooms, a steam room and cold-water basins behind timber walls. The installation operated from June 19 to 24, 2025, before the temporary structure was removed. Its unusual setting was part of the point: the project challenged the conventional role of road infrastructure by temporarily turning a car-dominated space into a place for people. The project's official European Prize for Urban Public Space profile also describes it as a temporary climate refuge for cases of extreme heat.
Round About Baths turned a traffic island into a temporary public bathThe project began with the roundabout itself. According to Concéntrico's project description, the fountain at the centre was visible but inaccessible to pedestrians because of the surrounding traffic. The architects temporarily surrounded it with the facilities required for a public bath, creating an enclosed space inside an otherwise inaccessible part of the city. Leopold Banchini Architects designed the installation using a timber structure clad with uncut wooden panels. The arrangement included changing rooms, a steam room and cold-water basins, creating a sequence that moved visitors from the heated interior space to the outdoor area where they could cool down.
The project was not simply an installation to be viewed from outside. For the period in which it operated, it functioned as a public bathing facility. According to the official user guide, sessions lasted 45 minutes, capacity was limited, and visitors entered in timed slots. Participants were required to bring their own towel and wear a bathing suit. The experience began in the hot steam room before continuing outdoors, where visitors could rest and cool down in the cold-water basins. The installation also had rules intended to preserve privacy and make the unusual setting workable. Changing areas were positioned on either side of the entrance, while personal belongings were placed in individual bags and held by staff during each session. Children under five were not permitted to enter, and users were asked to maintain silence, respect and considerate behaviour.
The climate reason behind a bath in a traffic roundaboutThe project's climate dimension becomes clearer in its later recognition by the European Prize for Urban Public Space. The prize's official project description calls Round About Baths a temporary public bath and “climate refuge” for cases of extreme heat, saying that it challenges the meaning of road infrastructure by turning space intended for vehicles into a place where people can meet at a human scale. That framing does not mean the installation was presented as a permanent solution to extreme heat. It was an ephemeral architectural project that operated for only a few days. Instead, its climate function was tied to the way water and bathing could temporarily change how people experienced an urban space during periods of heat.
The design also made use of an existing piece of infrastructure rather than requiring an entirely new site. The fountain, which had previously been visible but inaccessible, became part of a functioning public bath. High timber walls provided privacy from the surrounding traffic, while the steam room and cold-water basins created spaces for heating and cooling within the temporary structure. The festival's own description also emphasises the project's broader urban argument. It says the installation revealed the hidden potential of a car-dominated environment by temporarily repurposing street equipment and changing how people perceived a forgotten space.
A temporary experiment in changing how cities use spaceRound About Baths was designed to be reversible. The tall walls were made from a regular timber structure and uncut wooden panels that were intended to have a second life after the festival. Once the temporary installation was removed, the fountain could return to its previous state. That reversibility was important to the project's architectural approach. Instead of permanently rebuilding a traffic junction, the intervention temporarily tested a completely different use for it. A space normally experienced from inside a passing car became a destination where people could stop, change clothes, enter a steam room and cool themselves in water.
The project was subsequently selected as one of the five finalists for the 2026 European Prize for Urban Public Space, which recognises projects that create, recover or transform public space in European cities. The official prize profile places Round About Baths among projects exploring how urban infrastructure can be reconsidered for human and environmental needs. For several days in June 2025, therefore, the centre of a Spanish traffic roundabout was no longer simply something drivers passed around. It became a functioning public bath and, in the framing of the European Prize for Urban Public Space, a temporary refuge from extreme heat. The experiment was short-lived, but its central question was broader: whether infrastructure built primarily for cars can also be adapted, even temporarily, to provide spaces for people, water, cooling and communal life.
Round About Baths turned a traffic island into a temporary public bathThe project began with the roundabout itself. According to Concéntrico's project description, the fountain at the centre was visible but inaccessible to pedestrians because of the surrounding traffic. The architects temporarily surrounded it with the facilities required for a public bath, creating an enclosed space inside an otherwise inaccessible part of the city. Leopold Banchini Architects designed the installation using a timber structure clad with uncut wooden panels. The arrangement included changing rooms, a steam room and cold-water basins, creating a sequence that moved visitors from the heated interior space to the outdoor area where they could cool down.
The project was not simply an installation to be viewed from outside. For the period in which it operated, it functioned as a public bathing facility. According to the official user guide, sessions lasted 45 minutes, capacity was limited, and visitors entered in timed slots. Participants were required to bring their own towel and wear a bathing suit. The experience began in the hot steam room before continuing outdoors, where visitors could rest and cool down in the cold-water basins. The installation also had rules intended to preserve privacy and make the unusual setting workable. Changing areas were positioned on either side of the entrance, while personal belongings were placed in individual bags and held by staff during each session. Children under five were not permitted to enter, and users were asked to maintain silence, respect and considerate behaviour.
The climate reason behind a bath in a traffic roundaboutThe project's climate dimension becomes clearer in its later recognition by the European Prize for Urban Public Space. The prize's official project description calls Round About Baths a temporary public bath and “climate refuge” for cases of extreme heat, saying that it challenges the meaning of road infrastructure by turning space intended for vehicles into a place where people can meet at a human scale. That framing does not mean the installation was presented as a permanent solution to extreme heat. It was an ephemeral architectural project that operated for only a few days. Instead, its climate function was tied to the way water and bathing could temporarily change how people experienced an urban space during periods of heat.
The design also made use of an existing piece of infrastructure rather than requiring an entirely new site. The fountain, which had previously been visible but inaccessible, became part of a functioning public bath. High timber walls provided privacy from the surrounding traffic, while the steam room and cold-water basins created spaces for heating and cooling within the temporary structure. The festival's own description also emphasises the project's broader urban argument. It says the installation revealed the hidden potential of a car-dominated environment by temporarily repurposing street equipment and changing how people perceived a forgotten space.
A temporary experiment in changing how cities use spaceRound About Baths was designed to be reversible. The tall walls were made from a regular timber structure and uncut wooden panels that were intended to have a second life after the festival. Once the temporary installation was removed, the fountain could return to its previous state. That reversibility was important to the project's architectural approach. Instead of permanently rebuilding a traffic junction, the intervention temporarily tested a completely different use for it. A space normally experienced from inside a passing car became a destination where people could stop, change clothes, enter a steam room and cool themselves in water.
The project was subsequently selected as one of the five finalists for the 2026 European Prize for Urban Public Space, which recognises projects that create, recover or transform public space in European cities. The official prize profile places Round About Baths among projects exploring how urban infrastructure can be reconsidered for human and environmental needs. For several days in June 2025, therefore, the centre of a Spanish traffic roundabout was no longer simply something drivers passed around. It became a functioning public bath and, in the framing of the European Prize for Urban Public Space, a temporary refuge from extreme heat. The experiment was short-lived, but its central question was broader: whether infrastructure built primarily for cars can also be adapted, even temporarily, to provide spaces for people, water, cooling and communal life.
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