Steam the Day Away in New York’s Newest Bathhouse Locale

Jason Goodman and Travis Talmadge founded Bathhouse to fill a gap in New York’s wellness scene. Somewhere between a luxury spa and a spartan Russian banya, it combines the social aspects of bathing culture around the world with moody lighting, modern amenities, and restorative treatments. Bathhouse debuted in Williamsburg in 2019. A second location just opened in January in Manhattan’s Flatiron District with interiors by Rockwell Group. (Colberg Architecture served as partner architect.)

How Rockwell Group Created an Urban Oasis for the New Bathhouse

indoor pool that is lit up by fluorescent lights — Select thermal pools are heated with the energy byproduct of Bitcoin mining. Photography by Adrian Gaut.

The project intrigued Rockwell Group founder and president David Rockwell, an Interior Design Hall of Famer whose firm celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. “An urban oasis was something I hadn’t done before,” he says. The 35,000-square-foot, three-story space is mostly underground: Guests enter on the ground level, but the pools, saunas, treatment rooms, and café are all below. The subterranean location evoked a sense of drama for Rockwell, who is also a Tony Award–winning set designer (his latest is the Broadway revival of Doubt). He and his team conceived a backstory based on the narrative template of the Hero’s Journey, creating a series of portals that lead visitors down to the baths.

interior sauna area with bright orange lighting — The cedar-lined dry sauna centers on an altarlike heater where sauna masters perform Aufguss, a sensory ritual. Photography by Emily Andrews.

“We added a ritualistic aspect to passing through the different spaces,” Rockwell notes. There’s a sense of adventure and curiosity as one moves deeper inside. On the ground floor, a black-granite wall with a vertical strip of light marks the staircase entry, while in the corridor leading to the below-grade treatment area, walls of layered travertine in slightly different colors—dark to light—allude to rock strata, as if descending through the earth. Other thresholds use fluted glass, mirrors, or compression; one domed vestibule has a Dean Barger mural. On the lowest level, guests receive the payoff: pools illuminated in tones corresponding to temperature. Some sit under inverted metallic-painted pyramids with a cavity that emits color-changing light, which you can only see from the water. It’s like discovering a mythic civilization under West 22nd Street.