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    Office Alex Nicholls creates multi-generational Melbourne apartment with its own spa

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    Architecture studio Office Alex Nicholls has fused two penthouse apartments in Melbourne into one large flexible home, converting their basement parking spots into a private spa and pool.

    Adaptability was key to the home in Melbourne’s Elsternwick suburb, which needed to provide enough space for a multi-generational family as well as accommodating visiting relatives in guest rooms that double up as studies.
    Office Alex Nicholls fused two apartments to create Elsternwick Penthouse”Spaces were designed to adapt to a multitude of uses, with flexible working and living spaces as well as areas that could expand for large groups or contract to provide intimate settings,” the studio’s founder Alex Nicholls told Dezeen.
    Office Alex Nicholls was brought on board while the apartment block was still under construction and was able to make significant changes to suit his clients’ needs – improving the layout, adding skylights and up-speccing on key details like the windows.
    Timber staircases lead to the roof garden”The design intent was to create variety and different spatial experiences across a very expansive and potentially monotonous floorplan,” Nicholls said.

    “I wanted to create a light yet grounded and natural-feeling space that was contrasted with some stronger formal elements such as sculptural skylights and coloured functional volumes.”
    A “library spine” runs through the apartment to provide storageTo navigate this vast apartment, Nicholls devised a central “library spine” – a corridor running the entire length of the apartment that houses the family’s collection of books, art and artefacts while creating an opportunity out of what could have been a dark and monotonous space.
    “The idea for the library spine was born from a storage requirement of the clients,” the architect said. “However, it became a key architectural intervention.”
    “From a practical standpoint, it allowed everything to be easily accessible and displayed but it also helps to draw people through the apartment and celebrate the two staircases to the roof garden at either end.”
    Oculus skylights funnel sunlight into the interiorTo provide vital light to the heart of the apartment and enhance the two main living spaces, Nicholls designed a series of circular and semi-circular oculus skylights, which reference the clients’ love of Elsternwick’s art deco architecture.
    “They create a sense of movement and symmetry in the composition of otherwise rectilinear volumes,” he explained.

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    The apartment has three kitchens, partly to meet the family’s religious requirements and partly to allow the different generations who are sharing the apartment to enjoy their own independence.
    Described by Nicholls as a series of “magic boxes”, each monolithic kitchen is defined by one vivid colour. This helps to delineate spaces and provides a counterpoint to the otherwise warm and natural material palette, which includes Blackbutt timber and Gosford sandstone.
    The apartment has three colourful kitchen units”The kitchens were designed to be largely concealed within these coloured volumes to give each one more spatial presence while ensuring the apartment did not feel too kitchen- and appliance-heavy as a result of the clients’ complex requirements,” Nicholls said.
    In the basement, Nicholls turned the penthouses’ lift-accessed parking spots into a private 100-square-metre wellness space that features a fitness pool, sauna, kitchenette, changing rooms and a flexible rehabilitation area.
    Nicholls also converted the apartments’ parking spots into a private spaTo make up for the lack of natural light in this subterranean space, Nicholls deployed atmospheric indirect lighting and a warm colour palette.
    “Lighting the space via a datum of timber niches helped give the spa a restorative atmosphere, enhanced by the use of natural materials such as sandstone, timber, terracotta and lime render,” he explained.
    The spa is home to a timber saunaElsternwick is a thriving suburb in the southeast of Melbourne, brimming with buzzy shops, restaurants and bars.
    Among them is the Hunter & Co Deli, whose interiors were informed by the cold cuts on offer, and the minimal Penta cafe with its monolithic concrete counter.
    The photography is by Rory Gardiner.

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      Studio N highlights textured materials with lighting at Dubai spa

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      Dubai-based Studio N has created a lighting scheme to emphasise the natural materials used in the Sensasia Stories Spa designed by interiors studio Roar in the Kempinski Hotel Mall in the UAE.

      As the spa has no natural light, Studio N focussed on highlighting the variety of materials used in the space, which includes grey slate, stone, wood and hessian wallpaper.
      “We were very conscious of how we illuminated each of the different surfaces and how light could help emphasise the natural characteristics of materials”, the studio told Dezeen.
      The central space features illuminated archesOverall the studio aimed to meet spa lighting guidelines while maintaining a calm and peaceful atmosphere in the space.
      As the Sensasia Stories Spa is located in a busy mall, the lighting designers wanted the entrance space and reception area to act as a calm area of transition from retail to spa environment.

      Concealed low-power and high-lumen LED lights were used to create a soothing environment, with under-counter lighting used for soft, ambient light in the the reception.
      Strip lights illuminate stairs at the spa poolThe 270-square-metre spa contains eight treatment rooms, along with an ice fountain, herb saunas, steam rooms, and pool, that are arranged around a central courtyard.
      In this central space interiors studio Roar and Studio N created a large arched structure that contains illuminated arches. “We used linear grazers to pick out the texture of stone walls,” said Studio N.
      Concealed low-power lights are used in treatment roomsStrip lights were integrated into the pool’s stairs and, in other areas, smaller lights and decorative light fixtures were used to create illuminated accent walls.
      A recessed gobo projector was used to replicate the movement of water, which the studio said was “a subtle reference to the natural world”.

      Beer-filled baths and straw beds feature in Brussels’ Bath & Barley spa

      The studio used recessed wide-beam pinhole downlights to provide general lighting to the space in a minimal style.
      The lighting of each area of the spa can be controlled via a DALI lighting control system which allows lighting to be changed between lighting scenes. Treatment rooms can be changed between ‘mood lighting’, ‘treatment’ and ‘cleaning scenes’.
      Studio N used LED lights throughout the spaStudio N is shortlisted in the architectural lighting design category at the Dezeen awards 2022 alongside Liftshutz Davidson Sandiland and Leo Villareal’s Illuminated River installation and a theatre venue clad in luminous tiles in China, by Brandston Partnership.
      The photography is by The Oculis Project.

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      Beer-filled baths and straw beds feature in Brussels' Bath & Barley spa

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      Set in a vaulted cellar in the old city centre of Brussels, Bath & Barley is an updated take on a traditional Czech beer spa from design studio WeWantMore.

      Beer spas offer beer-infused spa treatments, most notably beer baths where guests soak in water mixed with hops, malt and medicinal herbs.
      WeWantMore has designed the Bath & Barley spa in BrusselsBath & Barley is the “very first” beer spa in Belgium, according to local practice WeWantMore, offering a modern take on the traditional day spas.
      “Beer spas are a tradition in the Czech Republic but not in Belgium, despite our nation’s rich beer culture,” the studio explained.
      Privacy screens were designed to look like stained glass”We noticed that most Czech beer spas are more beer than spa – dark, lots of neon and an overall pub vibe,” the practice added. “This wasn’t our idea of a soothing wellness experience.”

      “Instead, we decided to create a sense of relaxation and intimacy, but with a link to what distinguishes Bath & Barley: beer, bathing and Belgium’s beer.”
      The spa’s reception is located on the ground floorTo realise this vision, the studio drew on a palette of raw natural materials such as lime stucco, wood and straw, alongside copper and stained glass to evoke Belgium’s medieval beer brewing culture.
      The spa is split across two floors, with the oak bathtubs nestled into the vaulted basement and framed by draft beer machines, where guests can pour themselves a pint.
      A stone tasting counter defines the entrance spaceAfter the bathing ritual, guests can use the spa’s sauna or rest on a staw-upholstered lounge that allows them to “connect with nature”, according to WeWantMore.
      “The design supports social wellbeing and creates a unique escape from the daily rush,” WeWantMore said.

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      The spa’s reception is located one level up on the ground floor and is wrapped in curved copper sheets to resemble the kettles used in traditional Belgian breweries.
      Dried barley hangs from the ceiling above a stone tasting counter, where guests can taste a variety of beers and select the hops they want to add to their bath. 
      Steel balustrades depict the different stages of brewing beer”The natural scent of the dried barley branches dangling from the ceiling adds to the sensory experience and sets the mood,” said the studio.
      Ecclesial illustrations from Bath & Barley’s visual identity are integrated throughout the interior in the form of privacy screens, which resemble stained-glass church windows, and steel balustrades that depict the different steps of the brewing process.
      Copper accents feature throughout the interiorBath & Barley has been shortlisted in the leisure and wellness interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards.
      Other projects in the running include a hotel spa in the Maldives designed by Marcio Kogan of Studio MK27 and a Shenzhen cinema with a copper-lined lobby.
      All images are courtesy of WeWantMore.

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      Formafatal uses glass and light to denote treatment zones in Prague spa

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      Curved cement-screed walls with embedded rows of vertical glass bars characterise this spa in Prague designed by local studio Formafatal.

      The Cellularium spa is located in the Institute of Natural Medicine, where it occupies one curved corner of a floor in the Main Point Pankrac building, which has a glazed exterior broken up by vertical aluminum sheets.
      Light fixtures in the ceilings and walls punctuate the interiorThe spa’s main treatment area features three rooms that are delineated by rows of perpendicular glass bars, in reference to the vertical design of the building’s facade. These transparent rods are lit according to the function of the space inside.
      “There is no need to describe the purpose of the room to customers,” explained Formafatal. “The colour itself defines the content: sauna as fire (red), cryosauna as ice (blue) and air flow as wind (gray)”.
      Blue-hued light denotes the cryosaunaThe 155-square-metre interior comprises an entrance foyer and a waiting room, doctor’s office, locker rooms and treatment areas. The spaces were strategically placed around the building’s inclined structural columns.

      “You can hardly find a flat wall in the floor plan,” said the architects, who acknowledged the confines of the existing space by using curved subdividing walls.
      Locker room doors emerge from the curved wallsA convex divider decorated with metal fins separates the doctor’s office from the waiting area and nods to the exterior of the building in which the spa is located.
      “The outer shell of the surgery is lined with vertical steel plates, which gradually fold down to a flat smooth cladding with integrated doors,” the team explained.
      The exterior of the doctor’s office is accessed by a flush concealed doorAn undulating ceiling punctuated by square, solid oak dowel rods of varying lengths unites the different areas in the spa.
      Formafatal used a toned-down colour and material palette in the scheme to focus the attention on the curved shapes of the interior.

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      “Dark tones and smooth screed on surfaces together with daylight significantly underline the playfully modelled space,” the studio said.
      “We left the nurse’s and the doctor’s office in soft light shades that do not distract the visitor,” it continued.
      Inclined structural columns are most prominent in the doctor’s and nurses’s officesLocker rooms feature mirrors with bespoke backlighting housed within perforated metal sheet backing.
      “We lit up the small circular locker rooms into a play of light and shadow, again with a grid of vertical strips,” Formafatal said.
      The locker rooms employ the materials used throughout the rest of the space”We repeated all these principles and materials in other modified forms throughout the interior to achieve a harmonious whole,” it concluded.
      Formafatal is a Prague-based architecture studio founded in 2015 that works across the residential, leisure, hospitality and commercial sectors.
      Other projects by Formafatal include a villa in the Costa Rican jungle made up of monolithic concrete volumes.
      The photography is by BoysPlayNice.

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      Frederick Tang Architecture transforms New York loft into light-filled wellness studio

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      Interior architecture and design studio Frederick Tang Architecture (FTA) has updated Moxi, a wellness studio and acupuncture centre in Soho, New York by re-arranging its interiors around an expansive oval skylight.

      Frederick Tang Architecture, based in Brooklyn, was tasked with reordering and redesigning the open-plan, top-floor studio into a space that accommodates a reception area, six treatment rooms, offices, bathrooms, herb dispensary and pantry.
      Frederick Tang Architecture wanted to capture natural lightThe studio took the 1901 mercantile building’s skylight as the starting point for the refurbishment of the rectangular-shaped space.
      Its dense urban context required an innovative solution to increase the floor area while introducing natural light throughout.
      Moxi is arranged around a central skylight”Architecturally we wanted to organise the many different components in a plan that felt logical and complete which was difficult with space constraints,” said Frederick Tang, director of design and principal architect at Frederick Tang Architecture (FTA).

      “We started by organizing the plan around the sources of natural light,” he told Dezeen.
      An office space has been added to the interiorVisitors enter the wellness studio and arrive at a reception area framed by four arched windows overlooking Broadway.
      Here, a custom bench crafted from white oak slats and copper detailing curves along two walls while sculptural pendant lights hang from the ceiling.
      To maximise space and take full advantage of the natural light, this area doubles as a site for gatherings and classes.
      The reception is flanked by four arched windowsFTA reconfigured Moxi’s rooms as well as softened corners and created arches that echo some of the existing architecture of the space for the client who wanted the interior to feel “holistic, natural, calm and inspiring”.
      A single corridor leads to all six treatment rooms, which were also coloured in shades of green.
      The walls were lime-washed in a soft cypress green, with wainscotting wooden panels painted in a darker shade of the same hue.

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      FTA wanted the colour to contrast traditional wellness studios which are often white and feel more clinical.
      “The predominant colour was green –lime washed in a cypress and deep forest – chosen for its property to heal, critical at the front where the patron first experiences the space,” said the architects.
      Each acupuncture treatment room has a different wallpaperThe treatment rooms, which are the most intimate sections in the studio, contain two bedrooms and a bathroom arranged around the lightwell.
      The green was offset by hints of pale peach throughout the interior and natural finishes including terrazzo, concrete, boucle and ribbed glass add depth and texture.
      A kitchenette is located at the end of the central corridorAt the end of the corridor, a second archway opens into a back-of-house area, where FTA has inserted a new office, herb dispensary, staff pantry, and bath.
      Other design-focused wellness spaces include the Shelter wellness centre in Sydney, which is located in a former restaurant and Yoko Kitahara spa in Israel, which was transformed from an Ottoman-era home.
      The photography is by Gieves Anderson.

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