If Bali‘s soothing lush surrounds and sunny disposition aren’t enough, there’s always LYAG. We’re talking the newly opened, sleek massage salon which has opened its doors Kuta Utara, an area in the western outskirts of the island’s capital Denpasar. Founded in 2015 by four childhood friends, LYAG operates a series of high-end, conceptual massage salons with design-led interiors in both St. Petersburg and Moscow, and now, also on the idyllic Pulau Dewata, or in plain English, Island of the Gods. Situated inland, just a 20-minute car ride from popular Canggu Beach, the LYAG salon stands out from its surroundings, occupying an unfinished two-storey Balinese villa which has been designed by architecture practice KOZEEN + RUEDA. The villa’s structural work was already completed, and instead of redeveloping the building, the interior design has been adapted to the given situation.
The villa’s most significant tweak was dramatically changing the window layout – the gateway-like façade now features an atypically shaped double-height window – in a striking, pristine white hue. Inside, an understated yet inviting, orange-hued setting unfolds. A juxtaposition of meticulously designed spaces with the building’s raw, unfinished concrete shell informs the core of LYAG’s spatial narrative. Mimicking the layout of a Balinese village, the twelve massage capsules are surrounded by the ‘jungle’ of the unfinished, bare structure, creating narrow streets winding in between which lead to open ‘squares’ or cosy communal areas dotted with commissioned art objects. The capsules are slightly offset from one another, imitating the usual irregularity of a village street.
Inside the capsules, crafted from medium-density fibreboard coated with no less than 17 layers of lacquer, guests find a different colour palette in each one of them, inspired by human skin tones, ranging from light porcelain to darker shades. Furnishings and fixtures comprise a massage table and a metal sink that can be used by both the guest and the therapist, while there’s also a small dressing area and a shower. The windows and doors are made from smart-glass that becomes opaque when the capsule is occupied. The therapists at LYAG are certified professionals with a deep understanding of anatomy and who’ve mastered effective techniques. The massage menu offers a variety of treatments for face and body, while the readily available black room offers meditative reclusion. © superfuture
LYAG
Jalan Bumbak 101-105 (Kuta Utara)
Bali 80361
Telephone +62 877 77277878
Daily 10am-10pm
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
