Bronze A' Design Award Winner 2025
Imagine standing at the edge of a perfectly still reflecting pool in the foreground, its mirror-smooth surface approximately twelve meters long and six meters wide stretching before you, the water so calm it creates flawless inverted reflections of everything above, cool and fresh like morning air over a mountain lake, bordered by pale limestone-colored decking that feels smooth and sun-warmed underfoot, the stone perhaps two meters wide creating a walkway around the water's perimeter. Scanning from left to right across the middle ground, two modern architectural pavilions rise from carefully landscaped terrain, both structures built with warm honey-colored timber framing that suggests the tactile quality of smooth-sanded wood with visible grain, the left pavilion occupying perhaps one-fifth of the view, a single-story rectilinear building maybe eight meters wide and six meters tall with floor-to-ceiling glass walls transparent enough to reveal sage-green upholstered seating inside, the flat roof extending slightly beyond the walls to create a sheltering overhang, the timber structural posts spaced at regular intervals like the rhythm of columns. Between and around these buildings, the landscape unfolds with deliberate arrangement: spherical shrubs trimmed into perfect green balls perhaps one meter in diameter dot the terrain, warm terracotta and rust-colored boulders of various sizes from basketball to small automobile rest naturally as if placed by geological processes, low succulent plantings in sage green and dusty olive spread across the ground, and slender trees with delicate foliage rise at intervals, their trunks dark and branches creating dappled patterns. The right pavilion, positioned perhaps twenty meters from the left and slightly elevated on the terrain, presents a more complex form with two connected volumes, the nearer section featuring the same warm timber framing and extensive glazing, the farther section set at a slight angle, both sharing flat roofs that cantilever boldly outward, the interior spaces glowing with warm reflected light from wooden ceiling surfaces, furniture pieces in earth tones visible through the transparent walls, the total width perhaps fifteen meters. Moving to the background, the terrain rises through layers of vegetation, darker evergreen trees clustering in the middle distance perhaps fifty meters away, their forms suggesting pine or juniper species with characteristic irregular silhouettes, and beyond them, dominating the upper half of the view, massive sedimentary rock formations rise dramatically, their colors alternating between warm peachy-orange tones like sun-baked clay and cooler gray-beige layers, the geology exhibiting vertical weathering patterns and sculptural erosion that creates towering pillars and castellated profiles, the highest peaks reaching perhaps one hundred fifty meters above the valley floor, the rock surfaces appearing rough and stratified like thousands of pages stacked together then carved by wind and water over millennia. Above this geological drama, the sky stretches in gentle gradations from deeper blue overhead fading to paler blue-gray at the horizon, scattered white clouds with soft edges drifting across, suggesting mild weather and pleasant temperatures, perhaps twenty-five degrees with gentle breezes carrying scents of sun-warmed stone, aromatic desert plants, and fresh water. The light arrives from the upper right at midday angle, neither harsh nor dim but balanced and clear, creating soft shadows beneath the building overhangs and landscape elements, the overall illumination warm but not golden, closer to natural daylight that renders colors faithfully, the atmosphere exceptionally clear allowing sharp detail in distant formations while still showing subtle blue-gray haze at the farthest reaches suggesting perhaps ten kilometers visibility, the entire scene radiating quietness and stillness, the only implied sounds being gentle water lapping, occasional bird calls, breeze through tree branches, and the profound silence of stone and sky, the temperature comfortable, neither hot nor cold, the air quality pristine suggesting high altitude or remote location, the overall sensory impression one of refuge and openness combined, shelter within vastness, human scale within geological immensity, the materials around you feeling solid and authentic—real wood grain textured beneath fingers, cool smooth stone underfoot, warm sun on exposed skin, fresh water nearby promising refreshment, and the enveloping landscape offering both protection through the architectural structures and unlimited prospect through transparent walls and elevated terraces, every element arranged to support rest, contemplation, and the restorative experience of being present within a carefully composed environment that balances geometric human order with organic natural processes.
This spiritual spa shows how a design can seek balance between the build space and the surrounding environment. Designed keeping the principals of sustainability in mind this spa tries offers a design keeping the future generation in mind. The design shows a symbolic relation between the human soul and nature. The space is designed with recycled locally sourced materials. The design showcases to promote health and well being through spiritual healing. It also promotes sustainable design awareness while maintaining its design intent. The entire design is iconic in itself.