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Wellness tourism is not a mere definition of yet another tourist branch which grows and asserts itself as an imperative due to the Croatia’s desire to become the destination for modern aware tourists of better payment ability. Wellness tourism is not health-related tourism.
That is not only a pool, a sauna and a massage, expensive creams and a few smiles. For those who deal with interior, wellness offer and interiors must be in synergy and have to look like this:
‘Life is too important that be taken seriously.’ Oscar Wilde
Health is the process, balance of mind, spirit and body. Everyday decisions shape the quality of life and health. The goal of wellness interior is to create space which makes the guest more sensitive for the important aspects of health. In modern tourism and the pace of life it has become important to integrate the values in accordance with true human needs – health and the sustainability, and to promote, in a contemporary way, autochthonous values, materials and principles of formation.
“Health is a condition of complete physical, mental (psychological) and the social prosperity, and not just the absence of illness and weakness.”
(Constitution of World Health Organization,1946)
According to these quotations, when decorating interior of wellness centres or hotel rooms, basic principle of designing must be transformation of routine into rhythm.
The aim is to present the indigenousness which different users will recognise as their own true needs through the tradition and healing factors. Interior of wellness centre or guest rooms is a return to biorhythm and it reflects itself in the effort to approach health through the ambiance. Space must be divided into chapters to teach you and your guest about the cycle.
Entrance is the initiation, the key part of every story which changes the guest’s perception of interior. On the very entrance the guest leaves cares and habits, routine stops, rhythm begins. This way the guests recognise the intricacy in the interior, through the light and sparkling of individual parts the trust is built, and the eternally present in the man wakes up – the curiosity.
Sleeping is the regeneration of organism where safety, comfort and the isolation are necessary. Deep sleep is filled with cleanness and the softness of bed and linen, scents, touches… Did you succeed in illustrating anything from this to your guests so they could really sense the wellness?
Hygiene reflects through the graduation of the interior intimate zones – the guest needs to be offered the distinctiveness of the following terms: wet – dry, smooth – coarse. To include healing factors through baths, make the space more intimate through the furniture.
Rest is contemplation, condition in which body rests, and the mind expands. When we are left with contemplation and the imagination, through the introspection and the meditation weightless feeling is achieved. Body feels the easiness and relaxing – true wellness spaces have the possibility of atmosphere adjustment.
Settlement means occupying the space, and even personalizing it. One needs to become familiar with space and adjust to it through the intuitiveness, flexibility and the modularity – imagine a room, hall… the ambiance like that.
Active holiday through the game and the interaction is the information exchange, trace in the area and the research. It is necessary to familiarise the guests with symbols which allow the game and the awakening of senses. It is necessary to soften the border of the interior and the exterior.
When designing wellness interior the concept story needs to be used. Stories and fairy tales have, from ancient times, served for dynamization and empowerment of our mind. Story about health is told through spatial chapters or zones which mutually intertwine. When entering the room wellness guest leaves everyday cares and habits outside and the process of healing and balancing starts. Herein one of the most important factors is – the interior.
Tatjana Kos 
This post is also available in: Croatian
