Akasha Wellbeing Centre at Café Royal

The spa lies beneath a historic café reopened as a luxury hotel, under one of the city’s busiest streets. The British design team shaped it as an urban retreat of about 1,200 square metres.

It is organised around the four natural elements: spa and water, gym and fire, yoga and air, and an organic bar for earth, with a large lap pool at its centre. A specialist contractor worked with the architects to make the design buildable.

Pale stone lines the steam rooms and bathing areas, with built-in benches and basins carved from the same material, while the saunas are lined in warm timber. Soft, indirect light and engraved stone signs keep the atmosphere quiet.