Wellness today is an essential lifestyle. It is evident by the increase in people bringing wellness practices into their homes, creating the ultimate healthy environment. This wellness focus also influences travel, and we have the data to back this up: Wellness travel is a $639 billion industry.

Each year, it grows at about twice the rate of the general tourism sector. While a spa component may bring well-being for hotel guests, defining wellness in hospitality remains a loose concept and covers any adoption of wellness, great or small, physical or experiential.

However, consumer demand is growing for a range of elements that meet moral and spiritual values which are fundamentally ingrained in the evolving meaning of wellness and human comfort. Designing to make spaces comfortable in all senses is an expertise that requires creative leadership and technical proficiency. It is crucial to have a design team that is able to introduce human comfort upon conception, rather than attempting to retrofit into an already defined hotel or resort model. Not only will this create a holistic experience for the guest but is also more cost-effective.Architects of Good Health

Human comfort is easily defined as a state of ease pertaining to one’s physical, mental and emotional health. The first step in ensuring wellness is to start providing a healthy environment that fosters human comfort. To do this, good, fresh air is essential.

“Architects design spaces to ensure optimal well-being by connecting the outdoors, increasing natural ventilation, and using a biophilic aesthetic to provide passive cooling and fresh air. This requires consideration of the local climate and design of the building envelope — to maximize high thermal performance and appropriate air circulation to maintain a level of basic human comfort,” states Senior Lead Designer Ana Ramirez, OBMI’s wellness specialist.From Comfort to Oases

Building from that foundation, design can transform guest rooms, restaurants and lobbies into multisensory oases of wellness.

Welcoming portals and curving corridors create levels of intimacy in otherwise open spaces. Lighting, glazing, colors, forms and textures contribute to a sense of well-being. Soft surfaces in restaurants offer acoustics that let diners hear each other speak quietly. Elements of nature — from garden courtyards to natural stone surfaces to timber beams to water features — are all nourishing, calming and healing. Wood grains can bring the outside in while permeating a space with the subtle aroma of cedar, piñon or sandalwood — evoking a sense of place and creating strong olfactory memories.

Read the full article at HotelNewsNow (part of CoStar)