Thermal Baths in “El Médano”. Part 2 Project 2003 Mathias JacobChoon Lim Lai Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Santiago | Chile Thermal Baths in “El Médano”, Maule River, Chile.Thermal baths architecture has specific characteristics and deals with themes that differentiate it from other kinds of architecture. Among these themes, the project intends to put two in relevance: the social and collective acts it should attend; and the relationship between architecture and water. The purpose is to leave behind the typology of hotel-with-swimming-pool, exploring the possibilities of a construction that is “built for water”. The water is used in its different conditions of temperature, volume and movement, as the detonator of human activities and as a modifier and conditioner of landscape and space. Chile has an extensive coast along the Pacific Ocean. However it also has an interior and contineous line of water springs, along the Andes. Along this line there exist about 300 thermal springs that have been little studied and even less inhabited.The workshop studied the historial manifestation of the thermal resorts from Grece and Rome, to the present.The students also surveyed chilean thermal resorts, exploring the potencial and pointing out the diverse geographic, climatical and chemical, among other characteristics. Each student analysed a specific case, elaborating an apropiate programme and designing a project in relation to their and other data of its location. Tutor(s)