When homeowners share their vision for how they want to live, they often express a desire for dedicated spaces that promote health and wellness. The ability to wake up in the morning—or wind down from a long day—by performing a favorite fitness ritual can be a significant benefit of living in a custom home.
At Turkel Design, our team responds to this need by developing a design that facilitates the homeowner’s wellness routine. We have created yoga studios, home gyms, saunas, cold plunges, and indoor and outdoor pools for homes throughout North America. Favoring natural materials, free flow of air, and calming views, the results can recreate the experience of a weekend wellness retreat at home, no matter where you choose to live.
The following examples demonstrate a range of strategies for incorporating health and wellness into the program of a home: one is a freestanding structure, the second is a dedicated room, and the third is an example of arranging space to encourage physical activity.
An Oasis in the Woods
The structure shown above is a wood-frame, glass-enclosed pool house nestled in the trees of Vermont. Inside is a fifty-foot lap pool, fit for dedicated swimmers. While using the pool, the homeowners enjoy natural light pouring in from a lightwell above, along with views of the bucolic forest, and direct access to a patio for cooling off and taking in fresh air. Complete with an exercise studio and sauna, this pool house summons the tranquility of a Scandinavian spa.
A Studio with Multiple Views
Not every home requires a separate building for fitness rituals. For an Ontario vacation home, we designed a yoga studio that captures calming views of the pastoral landscape in multiple directions—and from multiple levels. The windows are positioned so that the owners can practice together while taking in the landscape from both the platform and the floor.
Our team applied time-tested design principles to the conception of this room. We conducted sun studies to determine optimal positioning of the home, allowing the windows to bring balancing light from three directions. Douglas fir beams span across the ceiling and extend outdoors, creating a pleasing sense of legibility as they reveal how they support the structure. Because we believe well-designed homes use space efficiently, this yoga studio serves a second purpose as an inspirational setting for one of the homeowner’s other passions: painting.
A Walkout Suite
We can also promote health and wellness in your home by considering the flow of space. For example, in a home that is built around a courtyard and pool—such as the Southern California example shown above—each bedroom suite has direct, threshold-free access. The proximity and accessibility of the pool make a morning swim that much easier to integrate into one’s routine.
Similarly, at this home in Aspen, the sliding glass doors of the main-level primary suite create a graceful transition to the pool and hot tub—as well as the serenity of the mountains and forests that surround the property. As mist rises off the water in the morning, the homeowners may be greeted by the diverse array of wildlife that call the land home: deer, foxes, even moose and elk.
While our team is skilled at designing dedicated spaces for health and fitness, we also understand that your entire home should promote your physical and mental well-being. We achieve this through a range of design strategies:
- Design for indoor/outdoor living, with generous natural light and air flow, and carefully framed views of your landscape
- Natural materials that create a feeling of comforting warmth and complement your home’s surroundings
- Solar studies that allow us to position your home on the land to passively regulate the temperature and light
Regardless of how you choose to spend your time in your home, we can design it to facilitate the life you envision.
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