Gold Lighting Products and Fixtures Design · 2021
Euphoria Retreat Spa Lighting Design
by Anna Sbokou and Katerina Plota
- A' Design Award 2021 Gold Winner in Lighting Products and Fixtures Design
- Awarded April 15, 2021
- CLIENT: ASlight
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 53,562
- Verification code DFD4E39E8D · Verify this award
About Euphoria Retreat Spa Lighting Design
Euphoria Retreat is a lighting design created for a spa in Mystras, Greece. The spa is a four-storey building of 3,000 square metres, carved into the base of a mountain. The lighting of each space was treated as a unique element, supporting a gradual and calming sensory journey. Daylight varies greatly from one space to another, so custom luminaires were designed to imitate daylight conditions. The custom luminaires harmonise the transitions between spaces and enhance the immersive architecture.
Drawing upon the enduring human impulse to create spaces of restoration and spiritual renewal, this lighting design by Anna Sbokou and Matina Magklara participates in an architectural lineage extending from ancient Roman thermae and Byzantine baptisteries through Ottoman hammams to contemporary wellness sanctuaries. The designers appear to have orchestrated a sophisticated chromatic and spatial composition wherein graduated bands of blue-gray tonalities create a domed celestial canopy above a contemplative water feature, suggesting the meeting point between earthly realm and cosmic order. The technical achievement manifests most notably in the seamless integration of concealed light sources that wash the curved walls with gentle gradation while three pendant fixtures punctuate the zenith, their hemispherical forms bisected between dark exterior and warm golden interior evoking astronomical bodies at the threshold between shadow and illumination. The compositional intelligence demonstrates itself through rigorous bilateral symmetry, with three golden arched niches creating luminous portals at the composition's base while their reflections in the still pool water double the visual field and enhance the sense of infinite depth. The chromatic strategy may reference the natural phenomenon of twilight, that liminal hour when warm earth tones meet the cooling sky, translated here into architectural permanence. One observes how the material choices, perhaps polished concrete or traditional tadelakt plaster, contribute textural subtlety while maintaining the unified surface quality essential to the meditative atmosphere. The golden apertures function simultaneously as practical light sources and symbolic thresholds, perhaps inviting contemplation of passage, transformation, and sanctuary. What draws your attention as you imagine inhabiting this space, and how might the interplay of reflection and illumination affect your sense of temporal awareness?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The Spa at the Euphoria Retreat, is located in Mystras. It is a four-storey building, of 3.000 m2, that is carved into the base of a mountain. The lighting for each space was considered as a unique piece, contributing to the crescendo of the ultimate relaxation experience. As daylight would vary substantially from one space to another, custom luminaires were designed to imitate daylight conditions, thus harmonizing the transitions through spaces and enhancing the immersive architecture.
- Tags
- Spa, Retreat, Immersive, Peaceful, Sensory, Lighting, Transition, Daylight, Crescendo
- Production Technology
- Catacombs- To mitigate the harsh entry from daylight into the catacombs, the corridor and reception area were lit with custom tunable white LED COB ‘daylight tubes’, linked with 2 daylight sensors for a smooth transition. The golden-plated niches were highlighted with warm wall-washers for an even distribution.
Staircase Well- Due to the repetitive openings and varying height along the route of the staircase, custom wall-to-wall luminaire was designed, with up/down component on independent controls. This way, the mystical effect could be balanced throughout the route, in harmony with the daylit well. For the night condition, an inground light dish inside the foot pool hints the moon reflection on the water.
Second level is the most complex and diverse. The visitor moves around alternate centers with variable degrees of light, humidity and temperature.
Sphere Pool- to enhance the shape and the experience of the sphere pool, two custom large scale systems were designed. At the top of the sphere, with the 1.5m deep skylight, a cylindrical lightbox was designed to allow for natural light, as well as artificial diffused light into the sphere. 4000K IP65 LED strips in gradient setting-out for optimum effect were installed on an aluminium cylinder and plexiglass diffuser, integrated within the architecture. The second system, four high-output spotlights aimed at a large custom parabolic reflector to generate a ’light column’ through the bottom glass and the water, for reflections. Additional discrete lighting in the outer wet areas was also introduced in warm tones.
Tepidarium- 3000K flexible LED luminaires were used in a perimeter cove to provide apparent brightness, while keeping the actual light levels low. For the centre of the space, 2500K source was used in the central pendant, for a soft relaxing glow.
Byzantine Hammam- in keeping with the character of the room, artificial lightubes were designed, with a 2-layer fibre optic system (2700K & 4000K) and frosted glass ‘vases’, for the central treatment pedestal, while the perimeter resting areas were lit with soft indirect neutral white light. - Design Challenge
- A destination spa hotel, such as the Euphoria Retreat, is a holistic immersive experience, where the light and the design of it becomes a silent protagonist that can hide and reveal elements, draw visitors to one area or another and play with the human senses, with low levels of illumination, tone contrast and detailing that integrates seamlessly with the architecture. It was good reminder for the design team to slow down, take a moment and understand what is vital to each space and each experience.
For the purposes of this entry, only selective feature areas of the project are presented, while the lighting design addressed the project in it's entirety. - Project Duration
- The Euphoria Spa is the centerpiece of the Euphoria Retreat, located beside the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Mystras, in Greece. The project was completed within 2.5 years.
- Inspiration
- The design of the Spa is meant to be peaceful and subversive, meditative and hallucinatory, orderly and free-flowing. This occurs through a choreographed transition of spaces in which light, sound, temperature, humidity, textures and smells create immersive sensory experiences. The lighting strategy needed to accommodate the sudden transition from the outdoors, into the catacombs, through to the wet areas and identify each of these areas with a unique character and environment.
- Image Credits
- Image #1 : Photographer Margarita Nikitaki, Spa Sphere Pool interior, 2019.
Image #2 : Photographer Margarita Nikitaki, Spa Sphere Pool exterior, 2019.
Image #3 : Photographer Margarita Nikitaki, Spa Light Well Staircase, 2019.
Image #4 : Photographer Margarita Nikitaki, Spa Tepidarium, 2019.
Image #5 : Photographer Margarita Nikitaki, Spa Byzantine Baths, 2019.
Colors of Euphoria Retreat Spa Lighting Design
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