Oxide

Oxide, a bathhouse set within Cockatoo Island’s Turbine Hall, is an immersive journey that reimagines the raw atmosphere of the Australian Outback within an urban context. The existing fabric of the building operates as a vessel of transcendence and experience, immersing a guest in the surreal liminality of threshold landscapes. The project explores a contrast between the red sands and crystal blue water that exists in the coastal outback zones of Australia, forging a dialogue between arid expanse and oceanic vastness. Oxide is an experiment in environmental immersion, thematically transposing the colour palette, forms, textures and sensorial harshness of the Outback in the heart of the city. The space celebrates the calving forms of the coast, the planes of the desert and the contrast of the blue water, representing the uniquely Australian landscape. It ventures the feeling of existing in two places at once, a liminal space allowing a guest to inhabit two disparate environments. Oxide endeavors to wield spatial language, materiality and atmosphere to foster a deeply transformative experience for the user.