Double Process

Burdifilek's treatment gets the kinks out at Clear Spa & Salon in Toronto

Anne Guiney -- Interior Design, 12/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

If you go for a haircut, you might want a lively environment where you can flip through magazines and gossip with your stylist—anything to distract you from your sodden, caped reflection in the mirror. If you make an appointment for a spa treatment, however, quiet and calm are the order of the day. Toronto's Clear Spa & Salon offers both types of services, so detailing and a smart layout create both moods. Diego Burdi and Paul Filek of the interiors firm Burdifilek, also in Toronto, sited reception and a lounge centrally to split Clear's 4,200-square-foot rectangular space. One side accommodates five hair stations, a makeup studio, and four manicure-pedicure booths. On the other side, eight individual treatment rooms open onto a quiet corridor.

Throughout, a buff-colored epoxy-coated concrete floor provides a neutral complement to the quarter-cut ash-veneered plywood of the custom reception desk, stylist trolleys, manicure tables, and shelving, but there are subtle differences between the two zones. A metal-bead curtain imparts a little flash to the manicure area, while scratch-cut plaster walls imbue the spa rooms with a soothing rusticity. Burdifilek chose warm halogen bulbs for the spa; fluorescent lights, recessed behind mirrors, brighten the manicure and hairstyling areas. The latter choice was pragmatic, says Filek, because fluorescents show colors more accurately: "If you're getting your hair dyed, you don't want any surprises."