by Heather Livingston
Contributing Editor

Summary: In addition to home offices, personal gyms, and media rooms, homeowners are now beginning to request relaxation rooms, says architect and interior designer Johnna Doane of Atlanta’s Brown Doane Architects. Typically a very small enclosed space, relaxation rooms provide a mini-getaway for the mega-stressed.

Although there are myriad products on the market that are intended to provide consumers with comfort and a few moments of relaxation, these items are usually tucked into a multi-purpose space where interruptions are frequent—hardly an escape from the everyday. “The whole idea is to have a room that all of these things are located within [where] you go inside, close the door, and shut out the world for a little while. It becomes a complete sensory experience,” says Doane. “This isn’t a library that just happens to have some features like a massage chair in the corner. It’s a total environment.”

A room with mass appeal
The relaxation rooms offer a place of absolute solitude and rest where the senses are engaged by soothing sounds and visuals and delighted by elegant materials and calming scents. Usually a dry environment, most relaxation rooms are not an extension of the bathroom and don’t include saunas, steam rooms, or trickling fountains. They are media-based and typically feature massage chairs, large flat-panel televisions, aromatherapy machines, color kinetic arrays for light therapy, integrated surround sound audio systems, and even surround-visual displays that present large scale images seen through headsets. Where possible, they also incorporate soundproofing to keep the rest of the world at bay.

Doane estimates that installing a typical 100-square-foot relaxation room costs approximately $15,000. Although the relaxation rooms come with a large price tag, Doane believes that the rooms have broad appeal. As work and technology encroach evermore into all aspects of life, she believes the need for a personal place to clear the senses will become more important across all income levels. “I think anyone and everyone can benefit from a small room like this,” she says.

Relaxing at school, work, and on the road
Outside the home, relaxation rooms are becoming an expected amenity. The trend first started with upscale hotels and spas first and now they’re taking it further by offering guest rooms, suites, and spa facilities that are all about escaping the ordinary world. The Hilton chain is leading the way with their relaxation suites that are divided into three zones to visually separate guests’ workspace, relaxation area, and bath. Both the Hyatt and Marriott chains are incorporating relaxation facilities in their hotels as well.

College campuses, condominium complexes, health and wellness centers, and even some workplaces also are responding to the trend. Recognizing the stress inherent in college life, many universities including Lehigh, Tennessee Technical, the University of Illinois, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Wake Forest are now offering students media-based relaxation rooms. Miraval Living condos in New York City offer an abundance of spa and fitness facilities including a relaxation room, and design giants Nike and Sony provide their employees with relaxation rooms.

Clearly, the idea is here to stay. What started in high-end facilities is now “becoming a little more widespread,” says Doane. Relaxation rooms give people “an environment [where] they can completely relax for a while. The extension of it into the home has been a natural progression.”