From the St. Regis to Goldman Sachs and Viking Cruises, architect Lauren Rottet’s client’s designs include a vast array of more than 50 hotels, restaurants, office buildings and luxury private residences across the world.
And while her design experience is across the architecture space, one of Rottet’s specialties is her ability to design the ultimate luxury spa experience. Some previous notable projects include Canyon Ranch’s Texas and Massachusettes locations, the Four Seasons Chicago with Augustinus Bader and the Belmond Cap Juluca Guerlain Spa in Anguilla. Currently, Rottet’s eponymous studio is working with the Wynn on its spa for the new Al Marjan Island in the U.A.E., slated to open in 2027.
What makes Rottet’s design practice stand out is her exploration in the pursuit of bringing nature inside — creating biophilia, “the innate desire for humans to be connected to nature and other life forms” and biomimicry, “emulation of models, systems and elements of nature for the purpose of solving problems.”
Lauren Rottet at Artemest Milan for her special design of The Living Room at L’Appartemento.
Courtesy Photo
Born and raised in Waco, Texas, Rottet is a veteran of the industry and previously was at prominent firm Skidmore Owings & Merrill; she later opened her own firm, Rottet Studio, in 2008. Rottet also has her own line of furniture and lighting called Rottet Collection and created a special design of The Living Room at L’Appartemento for Artemest Milan this past April.
Rottet said she was attracted to designing interiors because it was more challenging and fulfilling as a mix of both psychology and art. “People spend most of their time inside and their interiors reflect who they are and how they want to live, work or vacation,” Rottet told WWD.
Speaking about her design philosophy and how it’s evolved, Rottet said that she looks to creating interiors that are “stimulating, thought-provoking, inspiring” and healing through their “calmness, balance and light.”
Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Mass.
Canyon Ranch
When creating a luxury experience at the spa she designs, Rottet notes that luxury means different things to different people but an unforgettable experience is a must. “A luxury spa experience is about relaxation stimulation, discovery and at the end of the day unparalleled satisfaction both mentally and physically.”
When it comes to creating a strategic design to influence the type of clientele that luxury spas are looking to attract, the manipulation of space and experience to support the brands and create an unforgettable experience is Rottet’s role.
She also notes that design encompasses everything — the guests’ experience from the phone call or online booking, the arrival outside the venue and the smell that lingers after the guests have finished their treatment or returned home.
Guerlain products displayed at the Belmond Cap Juluca Spa, by Guerlain.
Victor Stonem
Design has a large impact on consumers — when entertaining a well-designed space, they gain respect and trust for the company and, in turn, invest in more treatments and products being offered. By gaining the trust of guests at the spas through a good design, service and product, people will be willing to pay more to get the whole package.
Creating the ultimate spa experience requires Rottet to meticulously plan out the self care experience from beginning to end. The usage of natural and artificial light is a key element of Rottet Studio design projects — and the usage of visual movements through reflection, refraction, texture and shapes.
Rottet points to The Met Museum’s 2016 exhibition, “Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology” as highly influential in her work. The exhibitions looked at the merging of the manus (hand, or more specifically haute couture in fashion) and machina (machine) to redefine what fashion means in the modern age — and in Rottet’s approach, she said she’s constantly using the exhibition’s use of materials, forms and architectural beauty as a point of reference.
LivNordic spa on the Viking Cruise’ Star cruise ship.
Eric Laignel
“I am highly influenced by fashion when it is game-changing and reflects the state of the year, economy and issues that are pertinent in the world like art does,” Rottet said. “I go to all the best international art shows and I always see a consistency in the theme or expression of the work — no matter where the artist lives and works.”
Another major piece to the puzzle is providing cultural context to her projects; throughout Rottet’s process of working with hotels, she researches the city and region, its history and how the area has changed over time, local food, fashion and its people.
Different locations also lend different light qualities for Rottet to play with — Aspen light gives fabrics a violet look, while San Francisco gives off aqua blues. When bringing her materials to the hotel’s location, she examines them under the location’s natural light.
Reception area at Canyon Ranch in Fort Worth, Texas.
Shaun Menary
At the Guerlain Spa at Belmond’s Cap Juluca Anguilla, Rottet said the entire island’s elements felt like a spa with Guerlain wellness properties of water, salt and botanicals naturally found. On the North side of the island were shallow crystalline salt ponds where its indigenous Caribbean tribe, the Arawak, harvested salt for its cooking and healing properties — a treatment for harvesting salt is available at the spa.
With Anguilla’s natural healing rocks of limestone and coral stone, the hotel and spa are meant to be barefoot — with Caribbean nature immersing its guests throughout the entire spa and hotel experience.
Many of Rottet Studio’s projects for spas are in collaboration with major brands such as Guerlain and Augustinus Bader — the team also does extensive research into the customers, logos, colorways, motifs and moods of the brands they work with.
“When we first started to design the spa for Guerlain at Cap Juluca, we studied the ancient and current medicinal healing properties of the endogenous salts, stones and tropical,” Rottet said. “We studied Guerlain’s history, its place with royalty, their wellness philosophy and the individual products. Our spa design, Guerlain’s treatments and experiences have been customized to connect the guest with the energy and rhythms of the sea. The turquoise ocean view makes a stunning backdrop to Guerlain’s Orchidée Impériale deep cobalt blue containers.”
Augustinus Bader spa at the Four Seasons Chicago.
Courtesy Photo
As for the future of design in the luxury spa and hospitality spa? Rottet foresees that customers will become more addicted to the experience beyond the physical environment of a hotel or a spa. One such way is through hotels creating highly curated gift shops with sought-after items such as ski jackets, bathing suits, beach bags, sandals and glasses that create memories for the consumer to keep coming back.
Another forecast by Rottet is that more resort spas will customize treatments to be one with the surrounding natural elements in their region such as limestone, coral, salt or gold and botanicals like lavender, chamomile, pomegranate and aloe vera.
“The luxury guest wants to experience and discover things they do not have and they spend their money on things that bring them good memories. They pay for counseling and guidance to do the right thing to keep themselves healthy. The clever spas will figure out how to be their health and beauty coach 24/7 all year round,” Rottet said.
