Retreat Yoga

KCA has created a Yoga Studio in Shanghai that aims to provide a serene sensory experience in contrast to the dense surrounding urban environment. More than the feeling of exercise, the experience of relaxation and well-being are deemed to match better with the practice of yoga.

The interior organization of the space is conceived as a cityscape, a micrograph of a city, where rooms stand in the place of buildings and the public functions occupy the negative space, the city’s streets.

The overall design focuses on the materiality of things. The interior walls and floors are covered with pebble stones, terrazzo and cement, to emulate further the exterior feel of buildings as one walks around a city. This roughness is counter-balanced with the use of warmer materials such as wood, bamboo, woven straw and tatami mattresses.

The material and color palette of the space is in further dialog with the city as most of these materials are found in Shanghai’s 20th century architecture, both local and colonial. An Asian touch is introduced in terms of materials, colors, textures and light quality, centered around the main principle of tranquility.

In the rest and reception areas, the architect has created irregular wood and tatami platforms where people rest and lie down in between yoga classes. In those areas, the warm western light is diffused through the bamboo blinds and creates a peaceful atmosphere, in line with yoga principles.

The classrooms balance between privacy and openness, via a large revolving door and an 8-meter folding door. Inside the rooms, clusters of lamps and woven baskets drop down from the ceiling and, together with the fly yoga fabrics, create an immersive visual experience that enhances the practice of yoga.