Longevity is at home: wellness temples as big as a walk-in wardrobe
Biohacking tools, anti-gravity but dry floats, molecular hydrogen inhalations, hi-tech whirlpools. For regeneration tailored to private comfort.
Live long, live well: the formula for active longevity is the white unicorn that everyone is looking for and that also has valuable allies within the home. On closer inspection, according to architect Alberto Apostoli, who specialises in all-round wellness design, the entire home must be designed with the well-being of its inhabitants in mind. The casuistry explored by Apostoli, who works with his Group all over the world, is very broad, thanks to the more than one thousand projects realised on almost all continents and a continuous in-depth study of the culture of well-being.
To decipher the formula for longevity, one needs to take a closer look at who has succeeded: 'One of the best living countries is Bali,' says Apostoli. "Not for nothing is it the place in the world with the most spas. The climate, the nature, the lifestyle, not to mention the typical d architecture, all contribute to this. This explains why wellness is the result of a philosophy of life, and therefore also of a broad and comprehensive design thought. The individual devices, although cutting-edge - from the sauna to the emotional showers, to the steam treatments - are incisive if they are inserted in a holistic framework that starts from the care of the physical to involve the mind and spirit. "From this point of view, the work of those who design wellness has expanded from the bathroom to the entire home precisely because the rhythms of life, food, and sleep are involved; the sense of protection and decompression that the home can offer, the moments of sharing that can be facilitated, undoubtedly have an influence. Last but not least, the correct size of the spaces, which must take the human measure as a reference, is also important,' he continues Equipment is, in any case, an indispensable support for daily wellness practices; as often happens, it is the professional world of wellness that dictates the line for what will then be developed inside the home.
"A trend of growing importance is that of biohacking tools, an integrated approach to optimise the body's biological functions with equipment borrowed, for example, from high-level sports, such as hyperbaric oxygenation cabins or cryotherapy devices," Apostoli specifies. "An identical process took place, in its time, for saunas and Turkish baths or emotional showers, which from the world of hospitality were adopted and redesigned for residential use. They are the nucleus of wellness spaces for recovery and decompression which, in addition to housing water-related devices, must also take into account the impact of light and climate: to regulate these factors, sophisticated systems are available that are able to support circadian rhythms and precisely control the temperature within the home".
What is envisaged is, therefore, a broader vision of domestic wellbeing, which extends from equipment to systems, materials, spaces, and even those shared in residential complexes: in high-profile real estate, salus per aquam devices represent one of the most sought-after shared facilities, to bring together multiple benefits, from practical ones (larger spaces, scheduled assistance) to those related to socialisation, among the determining factors of longevity: "Meeting in the sauna in the evening or, for example, creating moments of celebration or sharing at the spa is a way to generate wellbeing on several fronts," Apostoli confirms. Proof of this is the design of Palazzo Ponte Piccolo on the Venetian island of Giudecca, an exclusive residential complex nearing completion, for which he designed the spa: the design brings indoors the natural conformation of the lagoon context and includes a green terrace with a panoramic view. "In general, the relationship with the outdoors is decisive," says the architect. "Spaces that open up to nature, air and light increase the sense of well-being. Without forgetting that every environment, from Alpine to Mediterranean, has different specificities, which construction solutions must respect. It is up to the designer to be able to tune in to the place, to make the whole house an integrated and holistic system for wellbeing".
Confirmation of this all-round trend comes from Starpool, a company from Val di Fiemme that has specialised in health and wellness solutions through heat, water and rest for over half a century. Building on its experience with professional centres, hotels and resorts, the company has developed Health Innovation devices also for private use. With systems such as the Zerobody Dry Float, for example, a lounger that reproduces the effects of microgravity. Lying on a heated platform, one floats above more than four hundred litres of lukewarm water, relaxing thanks to the weightlessness achieved when dry, without getting wet or wearing a swimming costume, and triggering a physical and mental regeneration mechanism in the brain. The Molecular Hydrogen Booster, on the other hand, provides healthy inhalations of molecular hydrogen, a powerful antioxidant, while for an easy approach to cold therapy there is Zerobody Cryo, a lounger equipped with a patented membrane that wraps around the body: exposure to cold is 4-6 degrees, with beneficial effects of stimulating the immune and metabolic systems. A domestic sauna marked by naturalness is Kanso, designed by Alessandro Andreucci and Christian Hoisl for Effe. The name means simplicity and purity in Japanese, concepts that have guided the designers' hand in defining the elegant, measured lines of the structure, in heat-treated Aspen wood, a light, light-coloured poplar species known for its stability and low thermal conductivity.
