Spa & wellness
As wellness travellers seek immersion in unspoiled landscapes, two pioneering developments show how spa-hotel residences can dissolve the barrier between architecture and ecosystem – melding sustainable design, curated well-being and local heritage into every square foot.
Nature’s embrace S
ix Senses Comporta on Portugal’s Alentejo coast and Aman Residences Amangiri in Utah’s Canyon Country may stand continents apart, yet both are rooted in the same ambition: to let nature lead the design narrative.
At Comporta, 400ha of protected pinewoods, dunes and freshwater lakes flow down to 62km of white- sand beach, where a 70-key Six Senses hotel and 58 branded residences will open in 2028. The resort and homes are discreetly sited within a 20ha “build area”, preserving the remaining estate as a nature reserve. In Utah, a dozen Aman Amangiri residences on five to 19 acres each rise amid the ochre-toned mesas of Canyon Point, their poured-concrete walls tinted with recycled fly ash to echo the Grand Staircase cliffs and minimise visual impact. The architectural language at both sites is austere yet tactile: Comporta’s
central building fans into wings of guest rooms, with garden and presidential villas punctuating the pine canopy, while three precincts of forest, sand dune and lake residences employ timber, pale limestone and floor- to-ceiling glazing to mirror their settings. At Amangiri, each villa is intentionally positioned “to complement the desert’s spectacular topography”, according to architect Marwan Al-Sayed of MASASTUDIO, ensuring no two homes are identical and that the structures “emerge from the land rather than impose upon it”. These design choices underscore a shared conviction: that luxury is inseparable from sensitivity to place.
Wellness journeys carved by landscape Beyond their striking forms, both projects embed well-being into their very contours. Six Senses
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Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Six Senses Comporta
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