Király Baths is characterised by the Turkish, baroque and the classicist eras, which have now been complemented with contemporary additions. It has been a challenge to integrate the imprints of the various periods in a specific impression and adjust the contemporary additions to this atmosphere. We consider it important that experiencing bathing should not only be a superficial experience but a deep feeling, affecting all the senses. The atmosphere of the Turkish bath is binding: our thinking is directed not towards a current-day, noisy mass experience but towards meditation. Light is a central experience in a Turkish bath, usually coming from above. The small light beams enter the bathing space with intensity. The bath has no outside view. In the Turkish section we wish to reinforce this confinement. The baroque courtyard is transformed into a covered atrium, connected to the Turkish bath with dim internal lighting and sunlight enters the building at limited points just like in the case of the cupolas. By contrast, the circular portico of the classicist courtyard is open. In our plan, this complete openness is restricted in the newly built pool area. The light also enters here differentially: it filters through from above, along the two longer walls of the pool, and also illuminates the level of the changing rooms. The pool area opens to the courtyard with a curved opening and the direct sunlight is channelled by the arched supports around the pool. The proportions of the newly built parts of the building are not obtrusive.
