Nobody said urban life was easy, but in New York, the hustle and bustle can be readily if expensively soothed by a trip to a local day spa and a massage.
Real estate development, never a profession known for its calming effects, is starting to acknowledge the necessity of “retreat spaces,” and many builders are starting to include touches that make it a bit easier to work relaxation and mediation into daily life.
Clodagh, an interior designer who goes by one name and runs Clodagh Design International, says spaces have an aura or a spirit. “A lot of clients talk to us about easy living, saying that what we have done improved their lives,” she says.
It’s a principle she’s put into practice in her designs for Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salons and Spas, a boutique hotel in Armenia, a 500-square-foot loft in Tribeca, and her work designing interior spaces for an upcoming project along the High Line on Manhattan’s West Side. She says she incorporates the basic elements of earth, metal, water and fire into all of her projects.
“With everything we do there is a space to be quiet, there is a place to be noisy, a place to gather, a place to have quiet contemplation, a place to play,” she says.
At Sundari Lofts and Tower, a 50-unit condo project along Madison Avenue between 32nd and 33rd streets, the notion of a quiet oasis is foremost in the minds of its designers.
“Sundari means beautiful in the ancient language Sanskrit,” says Clifford Finn, director of marketing for new developments at Citi Habitats. “We came across the name and really the name inspired us to create a spa-like sanctuary that translates the elements of Eastern philosophy into a modern, Western-style luxury.”
Developers took 60 feet of outdoor space to create the sanctuary between the loft building and the south tower, which Finn said offers an unexpectedly serene space.
“Here you are in this Midtown location and yet once inside it is very private, so we made it a reflection garden, with a waterfall, rock garden and benches,” he said. “There is a 58-foot lap pool below the Zen-inspired garden, with a glass ceiling, so that when you are in the reflection garden you can look down and see the lap pool.”
Master bathrooms in each residence in the project, which went on sale Nov. 1, include freestanding soaking tubs by Duravit, emphasizing the opportunities to retreat from the outside tumult.
At the Hudson, a gleaming tower in the shadow of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, occupants of one of its 80 condos will also get a little bit of pricey calm.
“The building features floor-to-ceiling glass, very Zen-like fixtures and fittings, Jerusalem bone tile, as well as West African afromosia wood cabinetry,” says Ramona Mahtani, senior project manager for the Developers Group, which is marketing the building at 225 West 60th Street, between Amsterdam and West End avenues with Halstead Property. The building also features an outdoor yoga terrace as well as a roof terrace with a wet bar.
Peggy Aguayo, of Brooklyn realty firm Aguayo and Huebener, began recommending aspects of tranquility and relaxation to developers after studying Japanese culture.
“I was married in a zendo, I’ve studied Japanese tea ceremony, I have a deep appreciation and understanding for the sense of tranquility this brings,” says Aguayo.
She says the Washington, a 39-unit condo building at 35 Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, is an example of how the trend toward “mindfulness” can impact design. “The building has elements we consider represent peace. It has stone, it has water, and because it is called the Washington, it will have a cherry tree, a rendition of a Japanese tea hut, and will offer a sense of tranquility and peace,” she says.
Carole Crittenden Reed, owner of Lush Design, an interior design firm based in Southampton, NY, which specializes in meditation rooms and spiritual spaces, offers a different approach, involving use of texture, artifacts and objects.
“With my spaces, I think the senses are really bombarded. My spaces are very womb-like, they envelope you in fabric and texture, it’s very warm,” she says.
Crittenden Reed believes whether you live in a home or a small apartment, it is necessary to create a space where you can “be yourself ” and meditate.