Just Say Sè: Sè Spa

Edie Cohen -- Interior Design, 6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

firm:designstudio
site: san diego

Talk about beginner's luck. After years working on major Las Vegas projects as studio director and senior designer for Architröpolis, Sharilyn Olson Rigdon snagged the Sè Spa—part of the Sé San Diego hotel—as the debut project for her own firm, Designstudio. And she was in some pretty illustrious company. The hotel was being simultaneously designed by the Rockwell Group, with a restaurant by Dodd Mitchell Design.

Spa-goers naturally spend most of their time in a quasi-reverie, eyes closed. When eyes are open, Rigdon made sure there's plenty to see. The 5,500-square-foot space is materials-dense to say the least. "I packed in the surprises," she says. Honed marble—"soft like skin"—hand-troweled Venetian plaster, and hand-cut glass mosaic tile lend an artisanal feel. Moroccan-style wrought-iron lanterns and Brazilian walnut flooring add a touch of the exotic.

Particularly striking are the art choices: 3-D objects in lieu of 2-D canvases. Green teacups of various sizes drip like ivy down a wall behind the reception desk. Along the hall to the treatment rooms, hundreds of tiny gold-glazed raku cubes make up another sculpture.

Rigdon is now designing a spa plus a nightclub, public spaces, and guest rooms at the Hill Hotel in Durham, North Carolina, and the W Hollywood Hotel & Residences in Los Angeles. Sounds like she may be in need of a Next Generation facial or a Tala four-handed massage herself.

Photography by Eric Laignel.

FROM FRONT SANIJET: SINK, SINK FITTINGS (PEDICURE AREA). DORNBRACHT: SHOWER FITTINGS (STEAM ROOM). VISUAL LIGHTING TECHNOLOGIES: RECESSED CEILING FIXTURES. CASA DOLCE CASA: WALL TILE. KENNETH COBONPUE THROUGH JANUS ET CIE: BARREL CHAIRS (LOUNGE). RALPH PUCCI INTERNATIONAL: LAMPS. UNIQUE CARPETS: RUG. KNOLL: DRAPERY FABRIC. MAHARAM: CHAIR FABRIC, OTTOMAN FABRIC. DANAO OUTDOOR: ARMCHAIRS, OTTOMANS, SQUARE TABLES (LOUNGE), TABLE (RECEPTION). VIABIZZUNO: SHOWERHEAD (TREATMENT ROOM). BUFFALOSTONE: WALL TILE. BERNHARDT DESIGN: CHAIRS (RECEPTION). THROUGHOUT RMBH GLOBAL: FLOORING. NESTOR + GAFFNEY ARCHITECTURE: ARCHITECT OF RECORD. BLU SPAS: SPA CONSULTANT. KAPLAN GEHRING MCCARROLL ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING: LIGHTING CONSULTANT. LENDRUM FINE ART: ART CONSULTANT. TMAD TAYLOR & GAINES: MEP. FIFTH AVE. PARTNERS: GENERAL CONTRACTOR.