ESPA opens at The Yas hotel
by Tom Walker | 11 Nov 2010
Aldar Hotels & Hospitality has launched the ESPA spa at The Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi - in time for this weekend's title-deciding Formula 1 Grand Prix to be held on Yas Marina.
Created by Heidar Sadeki of Richardson Sadeki architects, the spa's design was inspired by the traditional Hammam with a modern Arabian twist.
The spa is divided into two floors - separating the male and female areas - and boasts eight private treatment rooms.
Facilities in the male 'department' include a marble steam room, a relaxation lounge featuring bronze and copper glass walls and furnished with modern Italian pieces, and a well-stocked library.
There is also a private lounge featuring two Metronap Sleep Pods for deep rejuvenation, with floor to ceiling windows offering a backdrop of the Formula 1 track.
The female changing area features a marble steam room, along with full height oak veneer lockers and white Carrara marble showers, as well as a grooming suite warmed by persimmon upholstery.
Treatments at ESPA at The Yas Hotel combine ancient and modern therapies, harnessing the natural healing elements of aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, thalassotherapy and phytotherapy.
Guests can choose from skincare products, deeply relaxing and anti-stressing oils, revitalising seaweeds, cleansing muds, ayurvedic infusions, exfoliating sea salts and therapeutic herbs.
In addition to the treatment rooms, the northern tip of the spa houses a cylindrical room, the rotunda.
The rotunda's stone furnishings create a sculpture garden as they surround a central column that reveals an inner core. This core has a markedly cooler temperature, with refrigerated floors to counter the warm conditions of the Hammam, and an amorphous sculpted stone lounge.
An illuminated nightscape ceiling, comprised of fibre optic, colour-changing light strands, offer soothing light therapy to enjoy pre or post treatment.
Susan Harmsworth, CEO and Founder of ESPA said: "We have worked closely with Richardson Sadeki to create a social and exclusive spa which demonstrates the expertise and excellent standards ESPA is known for, providing the most cutting edge spa and treatment experiences for the discerning guest."
The 500-room Yas Hotel opened in November 2009 and is operated by Aldar Hotels & Hospitality.
Designed by Asymptote Architecture, it is the first hotel in the world to span a Grand Prix circuit, hosting the inaugural 2009 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Aldar Hotels & Hospitality has launched the ESPA spa at The Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi - in time for this weekend's title-deciding Formula 1 Grand Prix to be held on Yas Marina. Created by Heidar Sadeki of Richardson Sadeki architects, the spa's design was inspired by the traditional Hammam with a modern Arabian twist. The spa is divided into two floors - separating the male and female areas -
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