1. Korean Football Park in Cheonan | UNS

 

In Cheonan, South Korea, Korean Football Park by UNS creates a new national home for the Korea Football Association. The 450,427 sq.m. campus brings together training, recovery, education, public engagement and institutional identity within a single landscape-led masterplan.

The project includes 11 football fields, an indoor climate-controlled arena, an outdoor stadium, gyms, physical therapy areas, healthcare facilities and athlete accommodation. Athletic performance is treated here as a wider ecosystem, where training, medical support, recovery and mental balance remain closely connected to landscape and public life.

 

2. Telekom Center Athens at OAKA

ek Issue: 293 | December 2024

 

At OAKA, the renovation of PAO BC Arena transforms the indoor basketball stadium into the new home venue of Panathinaikos BC, through an intervention that combines technical upgrading, functional organization and a renewed spectator experience. The project was developed by Decathlon, Markos Vouzounerakis / RICHE, K-Division and Eva Lantzouni / SEED Architects, covering more than 50,000 sq.m.

The first phase included waterproofing, assessment and reinforcement of the roof space frame, hydraulic and electrical upgrades, new circulation areas, food-and-beverage spaces, press facilities and hospitality zones. At the same time, the interactive glass sports floor, new screens, lighting and suites turn the arena into a contemporary sports and entertainment infrastructure, without erasing the identity of the existing shell.

 

 

 

3. Hidden Spa – Water Hope in Vietnam | IDEE Architects

 

In Cam Ranh, Vietnam, Hidden Spa – Water Hope by IDEE Architects is designed as a wellness space emerging from the landscape of coastal sand dunes. Rather than imposing itself on the natural setting, the architecture follows the terrain, creating a calm experience of therapy, water and shade.

At the heart of the composition, a central water courtyard works as both a spatial and environmental device. Reflecting water surfaces, planted islands and shaded walkways create gradual shifts in temperature, humidity and light. Water is therefore not treated as a decorative feature, but as infrastructure for cooling and sensory recovery.

 

 

4. Minthis Spa in Paphos | Woods Bagot

ek Issue: 281 | October 2023

 

In Paphos, Minthis Spa by Woods Bagot is part of a wider hospitality and wellness landscape, where the experience of care gains architectural scale. The project is not limited to a series of treatment rooms; it organizes a relationship between water, light, movement and the calmness of the surrounding landscape.

As a resort spa, it works as a place of distance and restoration, where atmosphere is as important as programme. Materiality, views and the connection with the environment shape a wellness experience based less on the image of luxury and more on duration, physical relaxation and a sense of retreat.

 

 

5. Hekate Fitness Club in Athens | Studio Maneo

 

In Metaxourgeio, Studio Maneo transforms a former warehouse into a 140 sq.m. exercise space with a calm, restrained atmosphere. Instead of the aggressive image of a conventional gym, the project is based on natural materials, diffused light and carefully controlled boundaries.

The architecture connects exercise with a sense of safety and decompression from the city. The gym therefore works not only as infrastructure for physical strength, but also as an everyday space for mental reset.

 

 

6. Sentō Urban Shop & Spa in Athens | PHOS Architects

ek Issue: 299 | July–August 2025

 

In Athens, Sentō Urban Shop & Spa by PHOS Architects combines beauty, care and wellness services with references to Japanese bathing culture. The project forms a sequence of reception, treatment and relaxation spaces, where materiality and light control degrees of visibility and privacy.

The spa experience is based on gentle transitions. Natural materials, fabric filters and carefully designed surfaces create an urban retreat, where care for the body is connected to silence, touch and a sense of distance from the rhythm of the city.

 

 

7. +One More Gym | BIVA Design

 

In Muscat, Oman, + One More Gym by BIVA Design organizes a CrossFit center with a strong industrial identity and a complex wellness programme. Reception, café, two sports halls, locker rooms, steam bath, sauna, swimming pool and Jacuzzi come together in an environment that combines exercise, recovery and social experience.

Lighting plays a decisive role in the atmosphere. Reception areas convey a calmer mood, while the sports halls gain energy through directional lighting. The result is a gym that treats the intensity of training and the process of recovery as parts of the same experience.

 

 

8. Pow Box Fitness Boxing Club in Athens | GJP Design & Construction

ek Issue: 258 | June 2021

 

In Athens, Pow Box Fitness Boxing Club by GJP Design & Construction occupies a neoclassical building, creating a strong contrast between the historic shell and a radically contemporary interior identity. Marble, metal mesh, neon, boxing gloves and theatrical lighting turn the gym into a scenographic environment for exercise.

The different floors organize reception, changing rooms, the boxing ring, a multi-purpose gym and a basement training area with a strong club-like atmosphere. The project shows how architecture can translate the energy of boxing into a complete spatial, visual and kinetic experience.

 

 

9. Molon Labe Gym | ADP Architecture Design Practice

 

In Engomi, Cyprus, Molon Labe Gym by ADP Architecture Design Practice transforms an abandoned industrial building from the 1960s into a contemporary fitness space. The programme includes free-weight areas, equipment zones, an MMA cage, martial arts areas, changing rooms and support functions, while the intervention maintains references to the industrial memory of the shell.

The new façade redefines the gym’s relationship with the street, combining the impression of a solid corten volume with a curtain wall that opens visibility toward the main exercise space. Inside, exposed services, the new metal roof and targeted lighting highlight bodily intensity and use as central elements of the architecture.

 

 

10. Nao Longevity Hub in Minos Palace | Stones & Walls

ek Issue: 302 | November 2025 – The Hotel Issue

 

At Minos Palace Resort in Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Nao Longevity Hub by Stones & Walls explores how interior design can support a broader approach to wellbeing and longevity. Movement through space, contact with the natural landscape, light, materiality and atmosphere are treated as interconnected elements.

The experience is organized around the concept of flow, from personalised assessment to movement, treatment and rest. Rather than being revealed from a single point, the programme unfolds through a sequence of thresholds. Changes in light, enclosure, texture and atmosphere shape a gradual transition towards a calmer rhythm.

 

Hidden Spa–Water Hope is a 3,000m² spa and mud-bath complex in Bãi Dài, Cam Ranh, Vietnam. Designed by IDEE Architects, the building is set low within the coastal sand dunes instead of appearing as a distinct object above them.

The architecture follows the existing terrain and gathers the program around a central water courtyard. This inward-looking arrangement responds to an exposed coastal setting shaped by intense sunlight, strong winds and initially limited vegetation. Water, planting and deep shade create a protected environment for bathing, treatment and rest.

 

 

Architecture beneath the dunes

The spa develops as a continuous curved structure around the courtyard. Its roof follows the profile of the dunes and becomes a walkable planted landscape. From higher points, the architecture recedes beneath vegetation and preserves the continuity of the surrounding topography.

Adapting the building to the natural levels also reduced the need for extensive excavation. The result is a low intervention that retains the relationship between the dune, the preserved landscape and the new program.

A mature tree that stood on the site before construction was retained. The design developed around its position, turning it into a point of orientation within the composition.

Water as an environmental core

Visitors enter through shaded passages defined by stone walls and repeated rows of timber columns. Rather than revealing the complex immediately, the circulation gradually opens towards the central courtyard.

Reflecting pools, planted islands and shaded walkways occupy its interior. The bathing areas, mud-treatment rooms and supporting wellness spaces are organized around this sheltered oasis. Consequently, the rooms maintain a close visual and environmental connection with water and vegetation.

The courtyard is more than a visual center. Its water surfaces and planting contribute to a cooler and more humid microclimate, softening the dry and exposed conditions of the dunes. Changes in shade, temperature and reflected light also shape the visitors’ movement through the complex.

 

 

Local materials and passive cooling

The restrained material palette consists primarily of locally sourced stone, timber and bamboo. Thick stone walls provide thermal mass and protect the internal spaces from direct solar exposure. Meanwhile, open corridors support cross-ventilation throughout the circulation areas.

Bamboo ceilings filter light and introduce a lighter texture above the heavier stone surfaces. Exposed concrete appears alongside the natural materials, reinforcing the contrast between solid walls and open, shaded passages.

The planted roof further limits heat gain. Rainwater collected from its sloping surfaces is reused for landscape irrigation, supporting the vegetation introduced around the courtyard and across the roof.

A landscape transformed over time

The presence of water and shade has encouraged planting to develop around the building. As a result, the formerly sparse dune landscape is gradually becoming a small oasis. The project does not treat the landscape as a decorative layer. Instead, it allows the relationship between architecture, vegetation and climate to continue evolving.

Minthis Spa by Woods Bagot stands at the centre of a large wellness resort near Paphos, Cyprus. Positioned on the crest of a hill, the building overlooks the Ezousa Valley and the historic Stavros tis Minthis monastery.

The architecture responds differently to the two sides of the site. Towards the resort’s main square and stepped outdoor amphitheatre, the building presents a controlled and largely enclosed façade. In contrast, its opposite side opens towards the valley and the distant horizon.

 

 

Emerging from the hillside

The wellness centre appears to rise from the sloping terrain. Its fragmented planted roofs form a geometric extension of the landscape, while the low horizontal composition limits the building’s visual impact when seen from above.

The two-storey spa contains 2,100m² of public wellness facilities. Its programme includes eight specialized treatment rooms, four of which have private internal courtyards. A 25m heated indoor pool, a smaller thermal spa pool, a gym, a yoga room, a relaxation lounge and body-treatment areas complete the main facilities.

A further 700m² service level is located at the base of the building. Reserved for staff, it accommodates the spa’s supporting functions without interrupting the sequence of spaces used by visitors.

From the square to the courtyard

Visitors approach the spa from the resort’s central square along an outdoor route. On this side, a grid of standardized exposed-concrete volumes creates a protective façade. Gaps between them allow climbing plants to grow across the surface.

The concrete grid is interrupted at the entrance, where glazing reveals the central courtyard beyond. Here, a vertical garden of aromatic local plants is arranged within black metal containers. Their repeated geometry echoes the pattern of the external façade.

This planted courtyard forms the spatial centre of the project. It leads towards the reception and lobby, while maintaining long views across the resort and the surrounding terrain. A white Volakas marble reception desk stands against exposed concrete, accompanied by a wall-mounted ceramic composition. Timber surfaces across the walls and ceilings soften the concrete structure, while grey stone defines the floor.

 

 

Graduated levels of quiet

The internal programme is divided between two wings according to the degree of quiet required by each function. The two pools and gym are placed to the left of the courtyard. On the opposite side, the treatment rooms follow a linear arrangement that supports greater privacy and acoustic separation.

Four treatment rooms incorporate private open-air courtyards. These enclosed spaces bring daylight, vegetation and fresh air into the treatment areas without exposing them to the wider circulation zones.

Towards the valley, the principal functional volumes are emphasized by substantial frames of untreated natural limewood. Transitional spaces occupy the intervals between them. Openings reaching up to 5m in height frame views of the green landscape and draw daylight deep into the building.

Materiality and framed views

The interior combines natural timber battens, board-marked concrete and grey stone in both polished and rough finishes. Natural and artificial lighting reveal the differences between these surfaces, while reinforcing the visual axes towards the exterior.

The indoor pool is positioned directly beside full-height glazing. Reflections from the water extend the view into the landscape, while the timber-lined ceiling introduces warmth to the space. Elsewhere, darker corridors and treatment areas create a gradual transition towards more enclosed and private rooms.

Furniture and decorative elements follow the same material approach. Soft organic forms, woven surfaces, timber and heavily textured fabrics balance the geometric structure of the architecture.

 

The project was first published in print in ek magazine 281 | October 2023, a monthly issue by ek Architectural Publications.