The hamam at the Cast Iron House was designed by Shigeru Ban, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect. It has a plunge pool, a steam room, a dry sauna, a ribcage shower and a “deluge” shower — “imagine a bucket with a lever,” said the building’s developer.”
At the Cast Iron House, a late-19th-century landmark in TriBeCa reimagined by Shigeru Ban, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect, into 13 shiny white condos, you will find another flourish designed by Mr. Ban: a Turkish-style hamam, complete with a plunge pool and a “deluge” shower. (We’ll circle back to that deluge later.)
Farther west, another century-old landmark, 443 Greenwich Street, which has been reworked by the architecture firm CetraRuddy, also counts among its abundant amenities a glistening green glass-tile hamam that Nancy Ruddy, a principal with the company who was inspired by visits to Istanbul, described as “having a primordial feeling about it.”
Uptown, the hamam at the Halcyon, a glass tower at East 51st Street, will sport tiers of heated marble. At 252 East 57th, the not-yet-built undulating glass tower designed by SOM, with interior architecture by Daniel Romualdez, who has created interiors for Aerin Lauder, Tory Burch and Mick Jagger, there is another hamamlike space — in limestone, marble and porcelain tile. Instead of a plunge pool there is an “ice room” with a machine that makes “snow” you can spread on your body, and an enormous “relaxation room” where you can rest after these circulatory jolts.
“Older cultures know how this helps you,” Ms. Ruddy said. “This is a luxury you can’t have in your apartment.”
Home, it would appear, is where the hamam is. At least for the superrich.
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But this particular amenity, now called the pet wash or the dog grooming station at 252 East 57th Street, has not only survived, it has also come up in the world. At the Pierhouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Toll Brothers development designed by Jonathan Marvel that just topped out at 130 feet and is the subject of a dispute about its height, the pet wash is no slop sink. It’s a windowed lounge overlooking the park designed by Mr. Marvel, the same architect who reimagined the Studio Museum in Harlem and St. Anne’s Warehouse, the performance space, with checkerboard tiles, outdoor furniture, lockers for treats, a coffee station and two professional dog showers.
“Essentially, it’s a really nice experience for both the animal and the owners,” Mr. Marvel said of the 350-square-foot space.
What to call it?
“I think it’s got to have a more descriptive name,” he said.
How about a dog hamam?
A version of this article appears in print on January 29, 2015, on page D1 of the New York edition. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
