Project Description
The Center for Wellness is conceived as a paradisiacal garden- a re-created Eden in the midst of the urban distractions of metropolitan New York City, where one goes to rejuvenate the body, mind and spirit. Our architectural approach merges the relationship between building and landscape. Metaphorically, each of the major program components represents a landform; the natatorium is the grotto; the gymnasium is a rock outcropping and the lobby concourse is a stone crevasse deeply cut into the gently sloping site. Vaulting sandblasted concrete ceiling and walls in the natatorium, convey the imagery of a grotto nestled within the slope of the site. The exterior locally quarried granite walls of the gymnasium emerge from the site as tectonic rock outcroppings. One portion cantilevers over the sloping site like a rock ledge suspending the holistic meditation room over a grove of mature trees and preserves their mature root structure below. Internally the walls of the concourse lobby are made of rough hewn granite and sandblasted concrete. These two walls inflect spatially creating a crevasse- like environment and reinforcing the merging of landscape and building. Sunlight is sculpted through the facility playing with the textures of the materials to create a spiritual and ephemeral place.