Playfulness will inspire Serenbe’s new wellness community, Spela

– Steve Nygren
Georgia-based wellness community, Serenbe, is getting a new wellness community dedicated to play, co-founder Steve Nygren, has told CLAD.
Named Spela – which means play in Swedish – the new community will open in 2023 and become Serenbe's fifth hamlet.
With groundwork in the early stages, Nygren reveals that plans include a four-acre park designed with both kids and adults in mind. The park will sit on a steep hillside with townhomes and cottages forming an urban wall around a town square.
For Nygren, play and playfulness are crucial components of wellness and wellbeing:
“Play brings out curiosity, adventure, whimsy, movement and risk-taking,” he says.
“We all need each of these elements in our lives to stay vital and stimulate us mentally and physically at every age.
“The park was envisioned as a mix of the natural forest with organised pocket parks for meditation, gathering spots and play structures for all ages,” he explains, “it will serve as a gathering place with crisscrossing trails that will weave throughout.
“Using the varied topography continues to support Serenbe’s efforts to build with nature rather than imposing a plan on the natural landscape.”
Each hamlet within Serenbe’s masterplan has a different centre focused on the elements of a well life: arts for inspiration, agriculture for nourishment, health for wellbeing, education for awareness and now, play.
Serenbe’s earth-friendly community is home to more than 650 people and is underpinned by a strong connection to nature, with miles of trails connecting homes and restaurants with arts and businesses, an edible landscape and acres of preserved forests and meadows – all with homes specifically designed for community living.
Nygren said Spela is being conceived with the typical Serenbe customer in mind but will be differentiated by its emphasis on family and the inclusion of larger homes to accommodate families.
The community will be infused with wellness architecture and sustainable operating features, such as Earth Craft certification and geothermal and solar power energy.
The total list of architects and designers working with the Serenbe Design team architects to create Spela is yet to be finalised.
Serenbe Steve Nygren Spela playSerenbe wellness community expands with new group wellness retreat
FEATURE: Living the dream


BIG's designs Prague concert hall to be vibrant centre of life

Mather & Co-designed Gretna Green Experience opens to the public

Project to save last major bellfoundry which cast bells for St Paul's and Washington National Cathedral

Perkins & Will reveals designs for net-zero sports and cultural centre in Toronto

World’s first living waterslides announced for Therme Manchester

Heatherwick reveals Volcano-inspired opera house designs for Hainan

Natural history museum planned for Abu Dhabi

Controversial London music venue, MSG Sphere, gets full planning permission

Clifford's Tower opens to the public after £5m redevelopment

Clifford's Tower opens to the public after £5m redevelopment

Glasgow's iconic Burrell Collection reopens after five-year, £68.5m revamp

SB Architects delivers Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Costa Rica with tree-house spa and private residences

Ole Scheeren designs vertical jungle resort complex in China

Designer Brian d’Souza launches Swell to create evocative soundscapes for physical environments

Basalt Architects create geothermal Forest Lagoon in the wilds of Iceland

Hot Pickle design £73m Guinness visitor attraction for Diageo in London

Amsterdam's new digital art centre Fabrique des Lumières will use tech to bring art alive

Pharrell Williams to launch tropical Bahamian beach resort

Banyan Tree curating solar-powered wellness retreat on private Mozambican island

Dubai Expo hits 10 million visits

Foster + Partners designs Dorchester Collection's first hotel in Middle East

Neil Jacobs reveals Six Senses Places concept for major cities

Orient Express returns to Italy after 46 years with six trains designed by Dimorestudio and new Rome hotel

400-year-old mineral spring will power Preidlhof’s €2m medicinal bath experience

Universal Beijing Resort reveals expansion plans for second phase

Pop-up stadium built with shipping containers opens ahead of 2022 World Cup

John McAslan + Partners-designed M7 cultural hub and museum opens in Doha

LPO Architects and GrecoDeco create vast subterranean wellness retreat for Oslo

Herzog and de Meuron’s M+ museum of visual culture distils essence of Hong Kong
