Silver Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2024
Wagamachi Sauna and Bar
by Shunsuke Ohe
- A' Design Award 2024 Silver Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2024
- CLIENT: Shunsuke Ohe
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 18,680
- Verification code 00FA1E1B75 · Verify this award
About Wagamachi Sauna and Bar
The facility includes a public sauna, a private sauna, and a bar. The entire space has a luxurious atmosphere reminiscent of a luxury hotel, but with a futuristic, edgy, and impactful finish. There is also a bar where you can enjoy drinks and alcohol after refreshing your body and mind in the sauna. There is also a bar where you can enjoy drinks and alcohol after refreshing your body and mind in the sauna.
SHUNSUKE OHE's Wagamachi Sauna and Bar represents a distinguished contribution to contemporary wellness architecture, synthesizing traditional bathing culture with refined material sensibilities that speak to enduring human desires for purification, retreat, and sensory renewal. The design demonstrates masterful command of spatial sequencing, guiding occupants through a carefully choreographed progression from entry corridor to elevated bathing platforms, each transition marked by subtle shifts in material temperature and illumination quality. The architect's selection of dramatically veined stone suggests geological time and natural forces, grounding the contemporary intervention within primordial material traditions while maintaining sophisticated refinement through precise detailing and proportional harmony. Warm timber surfaces at the composition's terminus function as both visual destination and psychological reward, their organic grain patterns and honeyed coloration offering respite from the enveloping mineral darkness. The lighting strategy achieves particular accomplishment through restraint, employing concealed linear sources that reveal material texture without competing for attention, creating an atmosphere of quiet luminosity rather than theatrical dramatics. This approach demonstrates understanding of how bathing rituals benefit from subdued environments that encourage introspection and bodily awareness. The integration of functional elements including shower fixtures, drainage systems, and safety railings occurs with seamless elegance, each component appearing inevitable rather than imposed. The presence of thoughtfully positioned lounge furniture suggests the design honors contemplative pauses within the bathing sequence, acknowledging that wellness encompasses rest alongside activity. Viewers might consider how such spaces mediate between contemporary luxury expectations and ancient cleansing traditions that appear across cultures worldwide.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The facility has a public sauna, a private sauna and a bar.
The entire space has a luxurious feel reminiscent of a luxury hotel, but with a futuristic, edgy and impactful finish.
The overall atmosphere is dark and gives the sensation of being transported to an extraordinary world of another dimension.The public and private zones are extraordinary spaces where visitors can immerse themselves in their own world, whether it is to relieve daily fatigue, to refresh their mood or for pleasure. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Project area : 180.9 sqm / Category : Sauna & bar
- Tags
- sauna , bar , wood , hotel , luxury , LUSTYdesign , Shunsuke Ohe
- Production Technology
- Ceiling : wood , cloth , metal panel / Wall : wood , cloth / Floor : wood , carpet, pvc tile , vinyl sheet
- Design Challenge
- Sauna facilities are complicatedly equipped with mechanical, plumbing and air-conditioning facilities, which need to be installed out of sight and planned to operate functionally, which is not easy to achieve in terms of design.A good space in the true sense of the word can only be achieved if it is compatible with functionality, not just design.
- Project Duration
- Project Duration : From April 2023 to January 2024
Project location : Osaka(Japan) - Operation Flow
- The sauna rooms in the private zone are smaller than those in the public zone, but have a gorgeous atmosphere. The walls are covered with coral pink and stone tiles and, as in the public zone, there is only indirect lighting.Bathrooms and relaxation rooms are also located next to each other, providing an extraordinary experience in a space that ensures complete privacy.
- Research
- The lighting is mostly indirect, and in the public sauna rooms, it looks futuristic, combined with the unusual way the wooden boards on the ceiling and walls are applied.The adjacent shower and relaxation areas are finished in black and grey-toned tiles and have a very relaxing design.Of particular note is the indirect lighting in the relaxation area. The lighting is designed to fluctuate from bright to dark and vice versa, and when you are exposed to this flickering light in a hazy state of consciousness, you can enter a world of another dimension.
- Inspiration
- The location is a town that has both urban and downtown faces.It is a strange and fascinating town with a hint of urbanity, but with a nostalgic atmosphere.A decade ago, saunas in Japan would have been seen as an add-on to onsen.The spaces themselves were not stylishly designed, and all saunas were plain, similar and unassuming. This space has been designed to overturn those images. There is also a bar where you can enjoy drinks and alcohol after refreshing your body and mind in the sauna.
- Image Credits
- Photograph : NANA TAJIMA by ToLoLo studio
- Patents
- Copyright© LUSTYdesign Inc. All Rights Reserved
Colors of Wagamachi Sauna and Bar
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