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Clodagh in Carolina

Sasanqua day spa soaks in the low-country appeal of Kiawah Island, South Carolina

Kimberly Goad -- Interior Design, 7/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Two obsessions govern life on Kiawah, a 10,000-acre barrier island south of Charleston, South Carolina. One is golf, with seven championship courses standing as testament. The other is an abiding reverence for nature. Not only are trees sacrosanct—the Kiawah Island Architectural Review Board forbids removing any without replacing or replanting them elsewhere—but architects are also "strongly encouraged" to use natural colors and materials that blend into the landscape.

So paramount is this philosophy to Kiawah Development Partners that, when Clodagh Design was hired to build a day spa there, chairman and CEO Charles P. "Buddy" Darby III felt compelled to give Clodagh a crash course on the area's ecology. At one point, Darby had her wading in the marshes in knee-high fishing boots, just to make sure she got a true feel for the Carolina low-country setting: the marsh grasses, the bird life, the soft, brown fertile soil called pluff mud. "Smelling the earth, the grasses, the oaks, it let me consider the beauty of the natural landscape," recalls the designer—never mind that she's practically a byword for natural in interiors circles.

She's also an expert on spas, having completed more than 100 Elizabeth Arden Red Door locations across the U.S. and Europe, plus the Spa de Serville in Auckland, New Zealand, and a renovation of the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa in Farmington, Pennsylvania. However Kiawah's project, named Sasanqua after a variety of camellia prevalent on the island, was the first for which her firm handled all aspects of design, from the ground up. "We were able to coordinate the entire concept, which was exciting," she says.

Situated on a secluded peninsula, the 8,900-square-foot day spa is set on 9-foot piles in the marshland. "It's not an architectural statement from the outside," says Darby. "It's meant to be experienced from the inside, looking out, and to mingle with its surroundings." Clodagh concurs. "I envisioned it quietly sliding behind the live oaks," she says. And Sasanqua does, indeed, appear to meld almost imperceptibly into the surroundings of the Kiawah River.

Clad in cypress, stucco, and poplar-bark tile, the building is at once typical and atypical for the region. Most of the roof is flat rather than pitched, for a tree-house feel, and the windows are shaded by exterior cypress-slat screens. Bluestone appears outdoors and in, and the interior color palette derives from neighboring papyrus plants, oaks, palms, and marshland. River rocks and stone slabs appear throughout, adding an earthy element.

The spa experience begins with what Clodagh calls "transition spaces." For the boardwalk providing access from the parking lot, she chose Brazilian ipe for its resistance to mildew and imperviousness to insects—important considerations in the humid low-country climate. Spa-goers pausing to take in the bird life can lean on the boardwalk's 31/2-foot-high guardrails. Right outside the spa's massive copper-clad front door, an infinity pool filled with river rocks encourages another reflective interlude.

Inside, Clodagh says, the minimal entry "allows the mind a moment of silence" tempered by the bubbling of nearby fountains. Bare walls of grassello plaster are tinted the color of pluff mud; a custom bench is reclaimed driftwood. The reception area—with ottomans upholstered in off-white cotton and a concrete-surround gas fireplace—overlooks an expansive view of palm and palmetto trees in the foreground, the Kiawah River beyond.

From reception, guests proceed to a bluestone-floored arcade lined with six of the building's cypress-screened windows. Clodagh's walnut-stained oak benches, positioned beneath the windows, offer spa-goers a place to sit before entering a private dressing room. After they change into a terry-cloth robe, they're greeted by a small men's or women's waiting area, the latter of which the designer furnished with her Squishoman chairs, upholstered in solution-dyed acrylic, and a series of pressed marshland botanicals by local artist Becky Davis.

Assorted New Age spa treatments take place in any of five identical rooms, where cabinets and walls are clad in cypress. The wet room, for special treatments, has stainless-steel cabinetry and limestone tile on the floor and walls. After a refreshing body buff, Ayurvedic massage, or the like, women and men retire to their respective lounges—possibly to a shower enclosure of limestone and frosted glass, equipped with body sprays. The relaxation journey culminates on one of three bluestone whirlpool terraces. "Energy moves clearly and freshly throughout," Clodagh says, Clodagh-style.

One of her characteristic beliefs is that design should engage not only all the senses but also all the elements. At Sasanqua spa, the bluestone floors and river rocks represent earth, fire is found in reception's hearth and the multitude of candles, air is experienced on the terraces, and water is present in bubbling fountains and the Kiawah River. "In Buddhism, what you see is what you own," says Clodagh. "At Sasanqua, you own a beautiful view."

At Sasanqua, a spa on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, Clodagh Design screened windows with cypress slats.The stucco finish was inspired by the bark of the surrounding palms.

A hallway terminates at a reflecting pool and concrete bench. The plaster walls are pluff-mud color.

For reception, Louise Crandell painted an 8-by-16-foot acrylic of the low-country marshland. The ottomans are upholstered in cotton; the painted cherry-wood lamps each have a parchment-paper shade.

Clodagh placed an infinity pool filled with river rocks by the front entry. The door is copper and glass.

Clodagh installed stainless-steel cabinets and limestone tiles in the wet room.

A Stéphane Pagani ceiling fixture and teak chairs furnish the women's lounge, which opens to a bluestone terrace.

Six changing rooms line a bluestone-floored arcade. Clodagh designed the walnut-stained oak benches and the cushions, inspired by horse blankets. The custom sconces are bronze and sandblasted glass.

The design of Sasanqua engages symbols of all the elements, among them bark tile, marsh grass, oak trees, oyster sticks, river rocks, fountains, and reflecting pools.

In a hallway, a 7-by-4-foot light fixture is made of weathered sticks mounted on a brushed-steel plate. A concrete fountain designed by Clodagh is filled with hundreds of river rocks.

In the women's waiting area, Clodagh designed the Squishoman chairs and custom banquette. The pressed marshland botanicals are by Becky Davis, a local artist.

A 125-foot-long ipe boardwalk with 3 1/2-foot-high rails leads from the parking lot to the spa.

Project architect: Robert Pierpont. Project team: Larah Moravek; Delta Wright; Ann Zieha; Gita Nandan. Lamps (reception): Taller Uno through Global Lighting. Ottomans: Crate & Barrel. Mural: through Serpentine Studio. Tile (wet room): Stone Horse Imports. Tray (lounge): through William Laman Furniture Garden Antiques. Rug: Tufenkian Carpets. Throw (lounge, waiting area), pillows (waiting area): Ellington. Ceiling fixture (lounge), sconces (arcade): Cotule Lighting Design. Upholstering (lounge, arcade, waiting area): Gary Buxbaum Company. Chairs (lounge, terrace): Kingsley-Bate. Custom benches (arcade): Carolina Joinery. Fountain (hallway): Clodagh Collection. Sconce: Kasper Larsen. Bark tile (exterior): Furniss Enterprises. Upholstery fabric (waiting room): Giati. Whirlpool: Bradford Products. Stone, wood objects: Childs Millwork. Metalwork: Architectural Sculpture Associates. Concrete: Casimer Kowalski. Lighting consultant: Johnson Schwinghammer Lighting Design. Spa consultant: Natural Resources Spa Consulting. Engineers: Epic Engineering (electrical); Johnson & King Engineers (structural); Mechanical Engineering Consulting Associates (mechanical). Architect of record: McKellar & Associates. General contractor: Russ Cooper Assoc.