Photography:
Ema Peter Photography, Olivia Van Dyke, Glyn Lewis, ASLD Studio
Location:
Granville Island, Vancouver BC
Year:
2023
Client: Commercial
Spa Facade + Entry: Alexander Suvajac Design
Spa Circuit Design: Circle Wellness, Leckie Studio, Carscadden Architecture
Living Wall Consultant: Green Over Grey Living Walls
Photographers: Ema Peter Photography, Olivia Van Dyke, Glyn Lewis, ASLD Studio
Landscape Contractor: Solstice Landscapes
Stone Fabricator: Simon Henry (Margranite)
General Contractor: CDC Construction
Situated on Granville Island, this private self-guided thermal spa concept brought together a series of shipping containers to create a cohesive space and experience. It is the first of its kind in the world, combining ancient wellness rituals with modern technology for an immersive and truly memorable healing experience.
Our work started with interpreting the asphalt parking lot and existing street trees that would form the context of this site transformation. In keeping with the industrial vernacular of the island we developed the form and character of the facade, entry, and perimeter edge, taking inspiration from the brand's minimalist approach. The material palette merged utilitarian and raw materials to emphasize a sensorial and tactile experience.
As part of a sequential journey, the courtyard garden design becomes a transformative threshold, soothing and stimulating the senses as a primer for the pod experience that awaits. There is layering of elements that adds interest to an otherwise compressed space. Visual details from the raw, iridescent black Canadian granite contrast with the sea of textural foliage. Plantings were selected for their aesthetic and textural quality with an awareness of 4 season stability.
Hardscape material sourced as quarry block off-cut scraps and remnants from stone counter production resulted in hand selecting one of a kind pieces to adorn the courtyard. The sparkling Cambrian black granite originally quarried from Quebec was deployed in paving, Noguchi-like boulders and water feature elements that celebrate the core drilled split marks of the quarry block crusts. Designed by Alexander Suvajac and skillfully fabricated by local supplier Margranite and fabricator Simon Henry, these elemental pieces breathe new life into the material itself and the spa garden. Like the ritual of spa culture, this unique garden site embraces the raw and the refined.
Plant Materials (Facade + Courtyard, ASLD)
Trees: Acer palmatum 'Green Select', Chamaecyparis obtusa, Pinus thunbergii 'Thunderhead'
Shrubs & Groundcovers: Abies koreana 'Green Carpet', Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Asarum canadense, Choisya ternata, Pachysandra terminalis, Pinus mugo, Sarcococca ruscifolia
Grasses & Ferns: Carex pensylvanica, Cyrtomium fortunei, Dryopteris felix-mas, Hakonechloa macra 'Green', Liriope muscari 'White', Miscanthus sinensis 'Little Kitten', Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light', Ophiopogon japonicus 'Nanus', Polystichum munitum, Phyllostachys nigra, Sesleria autumnalis
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