by Heather Livingston
Contributing Editor

Summary: Situated along the shoreline woods of Green Lake, Wis., Evensong Spa is a place of refuge and contemplation. The 1,500-square-foot spa was designed by the Scottsdale, Ariz., firm CMD Architects for developer The Fiore Companies. The spa shares its site with the historic Heidel House Resort and was conceived around the idea of the labyrinth as a contemplative tool.

CMD Principal Riccardo Cattapan explains that the project began by looking at the “macro.” Fiore was interested in creating a master plan for their Heidel House property that would include 124 residential units, a 40-room hotel extension, a 1,500-square-foot retail space to support the hotel and residences, and a spa building, which would be built first. Cattapan notes that on the way to the interview, the CMD team stopped off to visit the Milwaukee Art Museum, designed by Santiago Calatrava, FAIA, and came across a 4-inch-diameter steel labyrinth in the gift shop. “A labyrinth is a healing device,” he says. “It’s an approach to meditation that has a spiritual and physical healing quality. When I read a little bit about what a labyrinth is, I realized that this was what the project was all about.”

About labyrinths
According to the Labyrinth Society, classical labyrinth designs are based on a pattern from a 1200 BCE clay tablet from Pylos, Greece. Labyrinths were popular in Europe during the Middle Ages, and walking them was part of religious and secular culture. The labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral near Paris, built around 1200 CE, is probably the most famous of these structures. Today, labyrinth-walking has re-emerged as a meditative and restorative practice, with a strong emphasis on balance and harmony with nature.

Contrary to common belief, a true labyrinth is not a maze, but rather a single circuitous path that a traveler takes from start to center. At the center, the traveler has only completed half of the journey and must follow the same path out. Walking a labyrinth is a metaphor for spiritual path to the center of self and back, with a fuller understanding upon completion of the journey. The Evensong Spa labyrinth is composed of textured ceramic tiles for the background and inset pebbles that make up the route.

“I was a little concerned about how to make the labyrinth work, so I probably read 10 books on the subject” says Cattapan. “There is a mathematical formula to creating labyrinths, but I discovered as I read that they’re also celestially connected, so we designed three skylights in the labyrinth area. The skylights are positioned so that, as the sun moves across the sky, you get pools of light that circulate and follow the pattern of the labyrinth.”

Drawing on Prairie Style
Cattapan notes that the client felt that it was important to create a Prairie Style-inspired structure that responds well to the harsh Wisconsin weather. The building emphasizes the horizontal planes in true Frank Lloyd Wright fashion. Colors and materials used throughout the spa evoke the different changing seasons.

“We felt that there had to be a sense of honesty to the materials so we stayed away from faux finishes,” Cattapan says. “We want to do projects that live through time. The more honest you are to your materials, the more longevity the project has. I think [interior designer] Judy Testani is extremely brilliant at that.”

The building is constructed of concrete, wood, rusted steel, and glass. The hipped roofs follow not only the Prairie Style ideals, but also tie in with the Heidel House campus, which is an eclectic mix of building styles, including Georgian and Victorian. To create a sense of the natural within the protected warmth of the spa, the relationship between indoor and outdoor was dissolved by the use of large expanses of glass. Earth-toned materials such as a leather-tiled wall, bamboo, and sheepskin cushions were brought in to create tactile warmth. Finish selections are durable and value-conscious, creating a luxurious facility that invites guests to pause and reflect among the beautiful wooded shore.