Technogym
Technogym
Technogym

The last word

Mia Kyricos

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has committed to developing wellbeing initiatives for both guests and the people it employs. Its global head of wellbeing explains why Well Home matters


As someone who’s worked in wellness for the last two decades, I can’t help but think that we’re living in amazing times.

Wellness is no longer a fad which is dictated to us on the cover of a magazine. It’s a global movement which the hands of time have no chance of turning back.

It’s about a shared desire to live healthier, longer and more fulfilling lives than those before us. It spans multiple generations, and fortunately, is fueled by a greater awareness and understanding of the science behind it.

I’ve been watching this shift for quite some time. Earlier in my career, I was focused on the luxuries of travel, including the development and operation of spa facilities around the world.

It was there I learned about health and wellness and began to contemplate what the implications might be for all of us, if only we had access to the same support.

Later I gained insights into the health and wellness of sedentary people, partnering with the executive teams of corporations who were driven by the desire to reduce employee healthcare costs.

Our focus was on the nutritional, physical, emotional and mental health of each individual, but we paid less heed to the environments within which people worked and lived.

Fast forward to 2013 when I had the privilege to work alongside a small group of individuals at the Global Wellness Institute who identified and defined “wellness tourism” – travel associated with maintaining or enhancing your personal wellbeing – as a sector of the economy that was growing twice as fast as global tourism.

While this was a great moment in time for those of us who worked in travel, I began to wonder what would happen if we shifted our focus from where people would only visit, to where they call home.

Now, years later, we’ve started to look at the houses, buildings, and communities within which we all live, and as it turns out, I haven’t been the only one thinking along these lines.

For years, I’ve watched the team behind Well Home bring magazines to market and the forefront of our industry that have been professionally and personally meaningful to me – from spa and wellness and health and fitness to architecture and design. I’ve looked to them to help make sound business sense from advancements in these fields, complemented by changes in society at large. Today is no different.

Well Home has been designed to showcase and explain what it means to live well, with care for the environment that surrounds us and respect for the fact that how we move, fuel, play and think are not the only things that affect our wellbeing.

We’re now smart enough to know that it’s the environments we choose to surround ourselves with that impact our health and wellness, and thanks again to our friends at Leisure Media, who will now help to teach us how.

So sit back, grab a healthy beverage and enjoy the magazine. And let’s toast to a well world together.

Mia Kyricos is senior vice president and global head of wellbeing for Hyatt Hotels Corporation and founding chair of the Wellness Communities Initiative for the Global Wellness Institute.

Mia has also served as Senior Leader and strategic advisor for wellness-driven hospitality, tourism, travel and healthy lifestyle companies globally.

Follow her on Twitter @mkyricos

company profile
Company profile: Willmott Dixon
Willmott Dixon delivers the social infrastructure that people depend on in their daily lives. We partner with our customers to focus on the services they want to provide, not just the building we construct, and we are committed to achieving a higher social purpose through our work.
Try cladmag for free!
Sign up with CLAD to receive our regular ezine, instant news alerts, free digital subscriptions to CLADweek, CLADmag and CLADbook and to request a free sample of the next issue of CLADmag.
sign up
features
The Upper House, Hong Kong was André Fu’s first hotel project
Fu studied at the University of Cambridge in the UK. He set up his practice in 2000
"I've done 80 interviews in the past 60 days"

The Hong Kong-based designer on his transportative year

Taipei’s Zhonghe Sports Centre has a curved and faceted exterior form that resembles a giant armadillo
"Farrells delivered a streamlined, zinc-clad structure that looks like the snout of a dolphin when viewed from one of the many high-rise apartment towers that overlook it"

Why shouldn’t sports facilities be beautiful? Across Asia, architects are creating landmark buildings for the public, discovers Christopher de Wolf

Six Senses has 15 confirmed new resorts set to open over the next three years in Bhutan, China, Bali, Taiwan, France, Portugal, the Seychelles, Tunisia and St Lucia
Craig Cogut founded Pegasus in 1996 and serves as chair and president
"Urban retreats are hard to find. There’s a segment of guests who’d welcome Six Senses hotels in urban locations"

Three years after Pegasus Capital bought Six Senses, how close is the private equity firm to realising its goals for its first spa and hospitality investment? Pegasus’ founder Craig Cogut tells us what’s been achieved and what comes next

Catalogue Gallery
Click on a catalogue to view it online
To advertise in our catalogue gallery: call +44(0)1462 431385
features
The rooms at the Lanserhof Tegernsee are arranged around a central courtyard
Christoph Ingenhoven has championed sustainable architecture for more than 30 years. He is Super Jury member at this year’s World Architecture Festival
"At Lanserhof, you spend your money and it’s difficult and exhausting, but you feel as though you’re doing something very good for yourself and maybe also for others "

How Ingenhoven’s experience as a guest informed the design of the Lanserhof medical spas

Streetmekka Viborg will see a windmill factory transformed into a centre for street sport and art
"We were constantly having to invent new solutions to problems, as we were working with old ruins, a low budget and high ambitions"

Across Denmark, a charity is turning industrial buildings into centres for street sport and art. As the concept prepares to go global, we speak to the people making it happen

VIA 57 West’s residential units surround a central courtyard garden
Beat Schenk
"Bjarke was this young kid, quite brash and totally insane, but with really good energy, directing the team about what to do next."

On meeting Bjarke Ingels at OMA and VIA 57 West

The running tracks in the airport are colour coded: red for arrivals and blue for departures. White stenciled symbols direct passengers to the correct part of the building
Naoko Ito Chief creative officer, Party
"I thought it would be interesting to capture the positive feeling that occurs when running"

On why he built a running track into his Tokyo airport redesign

cladkit product news
Eden project uses drones to spell out climate change warning
Magali Robathan
Almost 300 drones were used to signal an environmental message above the Eden Project’s biomes, during the UN Climate Change ...
Mather & Co and ITV unite to create Coronation Street Experience
Mather & Co has transformed the visitor centre into the ultimate haven for ardent Coronation Street viewers
Magali Robathan
Experience designers, Mather & Co, have orchestrated a remarkable collaboration with ITV to unveil the new Coronation Street Experience, a ...
Jaffe Holden helps bring Academy Museum of Motion Pictures alive
Jaffe Holden provided architectural acoustics for the Academy Museum
Magali Robathan
Acoustical consulting firm Jaffe Holden provided architectural acoustics and audio/video design services for the recently opened Academy Museum of Motion ...
cladkit product news
Siminetti unveils iridescent decorative panelling range inspired by plants
The Clematis design
Megan Whitby
The Botanicals is Siminetti’s newest Mother of Pearl decorative panelling collection, inspired by the distinctive patterns found in botany and ...
Codelocks develops new glass door smart lock
The new lock model allows facilities and building managers to create and manage access via an app or online portal
Megan Whitby
Codelocks has launched its first glass door smart lock to bring intelligent access control to modern spa, leisure, fitness and ...
Fabio Alemanno Design uses elegant semi-precious stones to create memorable spa experiences
Alemanno believes the stones are well-placed in the spa environment thanks to their capacity to positively support physical and mental health
Megan Whitby
Fabio Alemanno Design has expanded its collection with semi-precious stones to enhance spas, wellness facilities, hotels and private residences. The ...
cladkit product news
Koto Design introduces wood-fired hot tub
Koto is known for crafting modular, energy-neutral cabins and homes
Katie Barnes
A striking wood-fired hot tub has been unveiled by Koto, an architecture and design studio which has a passion for ...
Alberto Apostoli designs tech-forward Wellness Therapy furniture collection for Varaschin
The furniture collection draws on absolute geometries, pure lines, neutral colours and strong references to nature
Megan Whitby
Furniture manufacturer Varaschin has unveiled the new Wellness Therapy range, designed by Italian spa and wellness architect and designer Alberto ...
Alberto Apostoli and Newform collaborate to launch the A.Zeta showerhead
The showerhead offers two modes; rainfall or waterfall
Megan Whitby
Italian architect Alberto Apostoli has renewed his partnership with Newform – an Italian wellness company – and designed A.Zeta. A.Zeta ...
x
Email this to a friend or colleague
I am happy for Leisure Media to contact me occasionally by email and understand that I can opt out at any time.
The last word: Mia Kyricos
Hyatt's global head of wellbeing on the importance of wellbeing and why Well Home matters @Hyatt
Technogym
Technogym