Seeing this makes my years-at-computer-desk-back ache even more. Stanley Saitowitz / Natoma Architects have designed a relaxing interior for Mizu Spa in San Francisco, USA.
Mizu is water, which Mizu Spa embodies. The atmosphere is a tranquil stream. At the center is a river of rock, around which the communal therapy barge floats in space.
The walls are draped in shimmering mesh creating light and fluid edges. The horizontal surfaces of floor and ceiling are black. Everything else is pure and white.
Mizu Spa is a place for pampering, rejuvinating and transforming. Treatments include facials, massage and nails. The central object is a prosthetic throne to sit on. Soft pads pamper the body. Arms rest, hands support, feet soak, and the provider glides around on stools.
Behind the communal therapy area are private rooms for facials and massage. In the bathroom, below the sinks, rocks again appear as water.
Mizu is about beauty.
Architects: Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects
Photography: Cesar Rubio
I agree that Mizu is a very beautiful space, but there is nothing ergonomically satisfying about it, either from the perspective of the client or the nail therapist…..a chronic problem in many spa designs where form trumps function.