Space Popular uses soft pastels and custom furniture for a day spa in Bangkok

Amidst the bustling neighbourhood of Sukhumvit in Bangkok, and on one of its many side streets (or Sois), a day spa designed by Space Popular cuts out the prevailing chaos and weaves itself as an island within the city. Known as Infinity Wellbeing, it sits on the ground floor of a commercial building and is surrounded by a tropical garden that shields it from the nearby towering skyscrapers and street food vendors.

The leafy garden that features dragon trees and lipstick palms creates a porous transition and a welcoming entrance into the spa.

Upon arrival at the lobby, the interiors reveal themselves in strong contrast to the heterogenous language of the street. A calming palette dominated by white and pale green with refreshing views of the garden peeking from the outside sets the spirit of the spa, where people turn to find a moment of stillness in their busy lifestyles.

The lobby is dotted by lounge chairs, bar stools, reclining chairs, side tables, and coffee tables, all of which are from Space Popular’s latest furniture collection, titled ‘The Second Collection’.

“All the pieces in the series are structured by mint green thick metal tubes combined with light petroleum blue upholstery. Together they construct an identity for the space while providing comfort in different forms,” say founders Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg of the London-based studio.

The central reception space is surrounded by five distinct seating areas that further lead to the treatment rooms. Here, white curtains separate the seating, and create pockets of privacy within the public space.

A copper-toned grid offset the backlit ceiling of the reception area, creating a vibrant contrast to the overarching theme of soft pastels. Branches of the grid drop down at the intersection to form overhead lamps.

Corridors leading into the spa rooms are clad in wooden fins of two different colours. Space Popular applied this treatment ‘to expose a different tone on arrival and departure’.

Inside, the massage and lounge areas are painted dark blue, and have a white coffered ceiling filled with packaging foam. As per Space Popular, the idea was to combine tailor made materials and objects in delicate ways with affordable, off-the-shelf materials such as packaging foam.

“There’s a contrast often seen throughout Bangkok, which despite its abundance of luxury and shine manages to maintain its agility and inventiveness through its market and street food culture,” add Lesmes and Hellberg.

Within the spa, there is one suite that stands out from the larger theme of the wellness facility. In addition to it not facing the garden, it features a grandiose ziggurat ceiling and sand-toned walls that make it its own separate world. According to Space Popular, this room creates a sense of being outdoors even if it is buried under hundreds of floors of the tower above.

The project is the second day spa designed by multidisciplinary studio Space Popular for the wellness brand Infinity in Bangkok. Previous projects by firm, which creates spaces, objects, and events in both physical and virtual space include an architectural conference in VR, a virtual gateway at the historic Deoksugung Palace in Seoul, and an exhibition at the RIBA Gallery in London that explored evolution of architectural styles.