I was thrilled to see my design for ChillSPA Mayo at the Ice House Hotel was nominated for best SPA design this April 2022. The SPA refurbishment took 11 months to complete from whence I started consultations with the clients to handover. We were up against so many unusual obstacles such as severe lockdowns due to COVID 19 and also the setting required the utmost sensitivity to the eco systems in the River Moy Estuary, Co. Mayo. To respect the beauty that was already there and facilitate a Wellness area set out; and jutting over the river required much careful planning; it was a niche project to say the least!
Just to update this post and say I was thrilled for ChillSPa Mayo to pick up the award for best SPA in Connacht at the Irish Tatler Wellness Awards yesterday. The team work very heard in ChillSpa and well deserve this award and it also feels like an achievement for myself too after a long and complicated design renovation project with a satisfying outcome.
Design is always about enhancing the experience of the end user. It is about evoking certain emotions and feelings in certain spaces .My design theme was based around blurring the lines between the man-made structures of the hotel and the gentle embrace of the river and Belleek Woods on the other river bed as the end user travels through their Wellness experience. I was always focused on the philosophy that nature and being in nature is a powerful agent of healing first and foremost, amongst other things we can do to feel well in our bodies and our minds.
With this clear design intent it was always easy to come back to what was paramount- that all SPA goers could feel there was no boundary between them and nature. I created this feeling with seamless glazed balconettes all around the deck area. I also changed the initial Architects design to make the deck area all on one level and moved the hot tubs out to the deck edge. ( They were originally to be up on another level behind the sew-weed baths ) This new layout made the space flow into the river seamlessly.
This project is a good example of why you might want to consider bringing in a Design Consultant to your commercial or residential project. I can get involved at any stage but the earlier the better as holistic thinking about your space with empathy towards the end user is the difference here and will be the difference in any space.
