Title: PN SPA
Designed by: mou architecture studio
Architect: Zhuang Wu
Project team: Shiyu Fu
Location: Nanjing, China
Usage: SPA
Building area: 320㎡
Completion: 2021
Main Material: Brick, old elm, artistic texture coating, steel plate
Photographer: Ang Wu, Zhuang Wu
The Old Mendong neighbourhood in the south of Nanjing is mainly built with rustic materials such as brick, stone and wood, and the sense of history and life here attracts people to stop by. Park Nien Spa is located in this area, and the designer, Wu Shuo, wanted to incorporate natural and simple materials into the space, leading guests on a poetic journey of mind and body.
A box with openings on all four sides is placed lightly in the entrance area as a transitional space, as if it were an atrium, dispersed along the axis to become a unique landscape. The first floor has a strong sense of spatial sequence, if the ground floor is the gesture of "division", then the first floor is the concept of "collection", the decomposed spatial units around are unified through the atrium, and the sense of flow and visual extension of the site is stretched between one point and one collection. Between one point and the other, the flow of the site and the sense of visual extension are stretched. The design is hollowed out above the arched doorways of the rooms, which ensures privacy and connects to the external space, a separation and continuity that allows the space to be private and secure, open and interesting at the same time. In the choice of materials, the design team did not go overboard, but chose low-cost bricks, stones and recycled timber to intervene in the space, outlining the aesthetics of simplicity while blending in with the atmosphere of the neighbouring streets and lanes.
Stability, simplicity and natural comfort are the feelings of every guest who enters the Park Nien SPA. Wandering around the space and realising the interaction between man and nature is the first prelude to opening up the mind and slowing down the over-speed rhythm in the mind.