Effe's New York State of Mind

Centres of wellbeing are becoming a life-line for many in this fast-paced world. A swell of understanding for the importance of mental and physical wellbeing saw many of us transform living rooms into makeshift gyms and yoga studios during pandemic lockdowns, and now others with meterage and means are starting to build wellness facilities into their living and working spaces, ensuring self-care is incorporated into their days with ease. For many, however, a destination dedicated to the latest in corporeal care is the only answer – a place to which to retreat, taking us away from our daily toil and offering ways to steam away stresses and strains with the latest technology.

Few know how to do this with as much panache and precision as Italian spa specialist QC Terme and its compatriot partners in sauna design, Effe. Styling themselves as ambassadors of wellness in the world, QC Terme, founded by Andrea and Saverio Quadrio Curzio in 1998, have certainly garnered expertise in taking remarkable, historic sites and embedding into them state-of-the-art wellness facilities, so that they become sought-after hubs of restoration. They have done this across Italy in places such as the QC Terme Bagni Vecchi in the country’s north. The latest project, however, has taken the team across the Atlantic for the first time to New York, where for seven years it has been transforming a former Victorian military barracks on Governors Island, sitting between the tip of Manhattan and Brooklyn, into the city’s ultimate urban retreat.

Occupying a generous site on the northern edge of the island, the spa’s position is unrivalled. Away from the hustle of metropolitan life, it is nevertheless within easy access of the city’s hubs. There are 4,000 square metres of grounds in which to decompress with panoramic views of Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge. But what’s on the inside of the three meticulously restored one-time housing of US military and Coast Guard families (originally designed by Robert D Henry Architects), shows the strengths of the QC Terme team to marry nerve-soothing locational charm with the latest in wellbeing technology. Each building houses different spa-rituals including pools, hydro-jets, hammams and saunas. 'The goal is to provide wellbeing through different experiences,' says a spokesman for QC Terme. 'This includes water hydro therapies, listening to music, themed relaxation rooms or detoxing in a meticulously designed sauna.'

Long term partners Effe, who specialise in the customised design of sauna and steam wellness facilities, have collaborated on the offering, with the invaluable logistical assistance of its North American distributor, the Perfect Wellness Group. Effe were handed the task of designing and building five saunas and two hammams – each with a unique concept and design, supported by the Cesena-based brand’s inimitable mastery of the complex technologies required – from the installation of efficient, smart and streamlined generators to custom-made doors in stainless steel and 8mm toughened glass that guarantee safety to local standards and prevent the flight of heat and steam.

Though Effe saunas are always designed according to Finnish tradition, using high quality woods and featuring dry heat (a temperature of 85-100 degrees C and 20% humidity), each of the five rooms here offers a distinct experience through customised aesthetics and materiality, inspired by the locale. The Botanic Sauna is built in cedar, which releases therapeutic essential oils when heated; Sauna and the City is built in heat-treated Aspen and has windows with exquisite views alongside a 3D wooden mural of the New York skyline; Park Sauna is built from pale Aspen and has windows overlooking the island, alongside a mural representing the city seen through the leaves of Central Park; So Close Yet So Far is made from Canadian hemlock and features a bow window with views over the historical site and lastly, Mountain Stube is an octagonal room flooded with light. Made from Swedish pine, it has a more traditional, European ambiance. The One Thousand and One Nights hammam, meanwhile, is illuminated with star-like LED lights while the Scottish Room teams steam with tartan walls.

'The destination day spa and bathing culture is different around the world,' says QC Terme. 'We are honoured to be one of the first European brands to enter the North American market and share a new outlook on wellness. A sauna is not only a great place to detox, but socialise with a friend or loved one.' And what could be more called for in 2022 than that?

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