Meow Wolf Co-Founder’s Immersive Art Bathhouse Sets Summer 2027 Opening in Austin

Austin’s next big wellness destination may feel less like a spa day and more like stepping into another world. Submersive, an immersive art bathhouse founded by Meow Wolf co-founder Corvas Brinkerhoff, is set to open its flagship location at 901 Barton Springs Road in summer 2027.

The 20,000-square-foot bathhouse will include saunas, steam rooms, hot baths and cold plunges. The space will feature 12 rooms incorporating immersive art, sound, light, water and neuroscience-informed design, each built around a different sensory experience.

“Austin appreciates that creative, powerful experiences sit at the intersection of art, community, and wellness. It is a hub for forward thinking individuals who embrace new and world-changing ideas,” Brinkerhoff said. “Submersive was made for this city and this location, steps from Barton Springs, feels almost destined. We’re bringing something the world has never seen before to the heart of Austin.”

The concept draws from global bathing traditions and Brinkerhoff’s background in immersive art. He co-founded Meow Wolf in 2008, helping grow the Santa Fe arts collective into a nationally known immersive art company with five permanent exhibitions in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Denver, Grapevine and Houston.

Designing a new kind of wellness experience

“Immersive experiences have a profound capacity to shift our internal state,” Brinkerhoff said. “Submersive is an opportunity to leverage that power in order to get us into these high value states of being.”

Submersive’s environments will use combinations of lighting, sound, video, water, temperature and interactivity. One planned sauna will incorporate dynamic audiovisual elements designed to change throughout the experience.

“We’re not building a spa. We’re building a portal,” Brinkerhoff said. “The bathhouse has always been a place where people go to reset and reconnect. We’re taking that ancient impulse and giving it the full power of immersive art and modern neuroscience.”

The company previously announced plans to open in Austin in 2026, but pushed the timeline to 2027 to allow more time for prototyping and site selection. Brinkerhoff said the team rented a warehouse in Austin to test how light, video, sound, water, temperature and interactivity could work together before moving deeper into the formal design process with architects and engineers. The extended timeline also allowed Submersive to engage local artists and designers on early prototypes and find what Brinkerhoff described as the right permanent home.

Founding Memberships open ahead of 2027 debut

“It’s really important to me that this location is an expression of Austin,” Brinkerhoff said. “That it feels like it’s part of and contributing to an expression of the community of Austin and not just something coming in from the outside and kind of landing here.”

Submersive will be located within walking distance of Zilker Park, Auditorium Shores and Barton Springs Pool, positioning the project near some of Austin’s most visited outdoor landmarks. Reportedly, the bathhouse is anticipated to draw about 200,000 visitors annually, with tickets priced at $88 per person.

Ahead of the opening, Submersive has launched a Founding Membership waitlist, offering early supporters a more active role in the project before it opens to the public. Founding members will receive free passes, early access to the booking platform, discounted weekday passes and a locked-in annual membership rate.

Brinkerhoff said members will get to preview the facility during development, offer feedback and take part in soft-launch testing as the team fine-tunes the immersive audiovisual elements. While Submersive will open to the public, he said the membership program aims to build a local community around the bathhouse.

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