Cake Architecture, a London-based studio, has finished a communal wellness center in Canary Wharf, featuring a sauna that accommodates 65 people and a lounge with an amphitheater design, intended to capture the vibrant energy of a nightclub. Called Arc, this wellness center focuses on contrast therapy, which involves alternating between hot and cold environments to stimulate the body’s natural stress and relaxation mechanisms.
Cake Architecture created this space for White Rabbit Projects, a hospitality specialist seeking to position Arc as a unique alternative to traditional nightlife culture. The client’s brief specified certain functional needs, including various room types, equipment, and capacity requirements. The interior was also designed to offer a sense of rhythm as guests move through the different areas.
Designer:
Cake Architecture crafted the space for hospitality expert White Rabbit Projects, aiming for a design that embodies Arc’s identity as a distinct alternative to traditional nightlife. The client’s brief specified particular functional needs, including room types, equipment, and capacity. The interior was also designed to offer a seamless flow, creating a rhythmic experience as guests move through the various areas.
“We aimed to create a space that facilitates communal transcendence – an environment that offers a step away from daily life,” said the creative director Hugh Scott Moncrieff. “The challenge was finding a design language that bridged the clean, health-focussed world of wellness and fitness while echoing the hedonistic energy found in dance floors and nightclubs.”
The project drew inspiration from both ancient and modern history, referencing the Roman Baths of Caracalla and the creations of architects and designers like Andrea Branzi, Archizoom, and Shiro Kuramata. The design seeks to explore contrasts such as hot versus cold, open versus closed, and natural versus artificial. Each area boasts its distinct character, while a cohesive material palette unifies the overall scheme.
“The materials contribute to a grounded, tactile experience, connecting guests to nature in a subconscious way,” said Scott Moncrieff. “Metal, wood, and clay work together to evoke a sense of ritual and timelessness, helping to define each space’s mood through their inherent properties – texture, finish, and color.”
The guest experience centers around four primary areas – a communal changing space, a circular lounge, a plunge room with eight semi-sunken two-person ice baths, and the largest sauna in the UK, accommodating 65 people. Across these spaces, materials such as red terracotta and deep-blue dreadnought quarry tiles are used on vanity units, tiered seating, sauna hearths, and ice baths to reinforce a sense of consistency throughout.
Wood was incorporated to provide a warm contrast to the tiles, utilizing various types of timber for fixtures like custom lighting, changing room vanities, sauna interiors, and a circular plunge bench. The lounge area was conceived as a communal space for guests to connect and rehydrate with water or herbal teas. It features circular tiered seating arranged around a monolithic table crafted from a cedar slab by sculptor Simon Gaiger.
The post first appeared on .
Related Posts
