Design of a Spa-boutique for the skincare brand Caudalie.
Materials >
solid oak, stucco plaster, polished concrete screed, Frontenac stone counter and fountain, cabin floor in plaster, felt, stainless steel.
Floor area: 173 sqm
Client: Caudalie
Design: ciguë
© photo: Maris Mezulis
Caudalie, an organisation closely involved in the field of cutting-edge vinothérapie (wine-based spa therapy), has commissioned ciguë to design its new space in the heart of Bordeaux. The design uses carefully chosen materials to express the characteristics of the brand, drawing inspiration from barrel staves, water and limestone. The space is evocative of both cylindrical maceration vats and the sinuous gaps in rocks through which water seeps. The theatricality of ciguë’s design lightens these references, offering Caudalie its most “antioxidant” space yet. The bevelled oak staves used to make barrels are used as an exterior facing material for the treatment rooms. The pleated felt on the ceilings references the strata of a cave system that has been made warm and cosy, while the plum-coloured plaster covering the floors of the cubicles is a toned-down version of the wine colour associated with the brand. But it’s the Frontenac stone used for a superb fountain of youth that makes this space on the Cours de l’Intendance so unique: the city’s iconic building material has been used at the very heart of the institute in the form of a huge stone weighing almost 3 tons that looks as if it has been freshly quarried. Polished for use, this ghostly relic of an ancient thermal baths conveys the idea that the company is returning to its mineral and organic roots, anchored in an area full of character interpreted by its cutting-edge scientific methods.