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It’s the journey: Blythswood Square Hotel’s new spa unfolds in a series of Scots-accented vignettes, leading guests through a seven-stage experience across two subterranean levels.
By Mary Scoviak
The 10,000-sq. ft. spa at Blythswood Square Hotel wasn't one of those easy projects for Glasgow's Graven Images. Even allowing for the fact that this was the 25-year-old studio's first spa, finding the concept to fit this underground space wasn't easy. It didn't help much that the firm's interior design for the hotel itself had enthusiastic buy-in from the owner, The Town House Co., as well as having earned Hotel of the Year honors in the Scottish Hotel Design awards and a spot on the 2010 Condé Nast Traveler Hot List. Visits to urban and leisure competitors didn't markedly shorten the learning curve, either. “The more we talked about the aspects of spa design that were set in stone, the more confused we got,” says Jim Hamilton, Graven Images' design director. However, clarity came as the designers took off the gloves and vented. “We were just a bit fed up with spas that were about products rather than experiences, with the whole ‘palace of bling' thing and with all the whale music.”
Hamilton and his collaborators had seen inventive solutions at beachside resorts, mountain retreats and “facilities in cities that don't have lousy weather eight months out of the year,” as Hamilton puts it. Yet, none seemed to apply—either to the locale or to Graven Images' vision for this venue two levels below the street. “Most spas are light. That's okay if you have a beautiful view of a sunny beach or the desert. But, in this context, that look would make me think of a doctor's office,” says Hamilton. “I wanted this to be dark, like a sheltering cave or a womb. I wanted to create the feeling you get when you go into a darkened cinema during the day and forget where you are.”
Fast reveals may be on trend, but they were not part of Hamilton's plan. “Seeing everything at once is boring. Space planning should be a carefully considered journey,” he says. That suggested the idea of a series of narrative design experiences. Graven Images' team began mapping out a sinuous layout that would give guests small glimpses of what was around the corner as they walked deeper into the spa. Each turn would change guests' perspective as they moved through areas of light and shadow. Contrast was key. “We were playing with the power of dark and light, water and fire to dramatize the differences in the dry experiences on the upper level and the wet elements below,” says Hamilton.
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