Set in the new super-luxe Chelsea Barracks development, this spa and health facility will offer residents high-end luxury in their own private building. Unique lighting design is accompanied by a series of heat experiences that make this a truly immersive experience. Combining elegant design with beautifully detailed spaces and quality finishes, this new spa offer is set to redefine luxury living in London.
Originally completed in March 1863, the iconic and historical Chelsea Barracks was considered to be ‘state-of-the-art’, and was in effect a self-contained village housing infantry members up until 2008. Steeped in history, surviving the two World Wars, the barracks were demolished and rebuilt in the 1960s and the only heroic survivors from the original buildings are the irreplaceable listed chapel and the iron railings fronting Chelsea Bridge Road. Attracted to the rich history and narrative of the Chelsea Barracks, Goddard Littlefair were respectful of the project’s iconic status and scale when approaching their design.
Goddard Littlefair overcame the challenges of transferring a conventional luxury spa to a residential space through the studio’s meticulous attention to detail. In wanting to immerse people from the start – from the entrance to the heart of the Spa – focusing on the atmosphere and ambience was crucial to the success of the design.
The spa has two entrance points in fact, both of which lead immediately to the reception from where you can choose the active route of the gym and changing rooms, or, the more passive route to treatment areas. Two stunning Sharon Marston lighting commissions hang in both the entrance spaces and soften the arrival to the spa through their natural and organic forms. Goddard Littlefair takes a 360 degree approach and through understanding and anticipating the Chelsea Barracks residents’ needs at the Spa, the studio has developed a programme of heat experiences. The sauna and steam areas are akin to contemporary hammams, replete with hotbeds, tepidarium and plunge-pools.
