iPrecedents: Chairama SPA / Giancarlo Mazzanti + Felipe Mesa

Chairama SPA / Giancarlo Mazzanti + Felipe Mesa: "

Architects: Giancarlo Mazzanti + Felipe Mesa (planb)
Location: Bogota, Colombia
Project Team: Jaime Borbon, Andres Sarmiento, Maria Fernanda Pizarro, Jorge Gomez, Ivanovha Benedetto, Juan Pablo Giraldo
Façade Graphic Design: Juan David Diez
Design Year: 2008
Construction Year: 2009 – 2010
Photographs: Sergio Gomez

1. Maximum use of the space

The project is located in a traditional square in Bogotá between two other building with a specific norm that defines the height and general setbacks. The requirement to use as much area as possible, outlined a regular cubic volume isolated on all sides from other buildings and completely exposed to natural light.

first floor plan

second floor plan

third floor plan

2. Configuration

The activities within the building are organized into four levels and related to the different thermal levels of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta through botanical and animal shapes. This difference in levels is expressed in a subtle way on the façade, by separating the overall volume in horizontal stripes and in shades of grays. Our spatial strategy allows a fragment of the façade to receive natural light and exterior visuals in all the interior spaces within the cubic volume.

3. Materials

Through out the whole building uniform materials are selected, reflective and soft colors that amplify everyday interior situations: glass, epoxy floors, ceramic veneers, etc. give unity and amplitude in the space. The humid therapies in the third floor, the flooring material is a wood deck that permits the filtering of water and a warm contact with the skin.

4. The facade as a membrane

The facade is composed by a double skin: the first skin is located in the inside and is made of glass and concrete, the second, in the outside, is made of metal sheet cut with laser and composed by a pattern of holes in forms of rock as piled earth layers. This texture is compressed or expanded to allow transparency or isolation and defines the visual and environmental exchanges with the outside. The double skin allows intimacy without losing relationship with the outside and depth perception; it acts as a veil that covers the entertainment and sensory characteristics of a Spa.

5. Travel

On the first floor are located the entry, the reception, the warehouse and a restaurant that opens onto a patio covered with vegetation. In the second floor are located facial massage rooms with glass walls that give depth, light and allow multiple doors to disappear and provide a clean and quiet space. In the third floor are located the pools and all water sports for relaxation, these activities are open on one side and have visuals towards the eastern mountains. The fourth and final level expands and an open courtyard is built that connects the yoga room and a cafeteria that once again enjoys the outside and the distant views.