Forest Spa
Forest Spa sits in the grounds of the Volyn country hotel in Velikiye Luki, Pskov region, on the shores of Lake Zhizhitskoye — a setting made for rest and recovery, where the landscape does much of the work. Far from the noise of the city, guests move into something quieter. Every element here was deliberate: a wood-fired banya, a Finnish sauna and a full range of spa treatments, all held together by the pull of centuries-old bathing tradition.
The Brief
The client asked us to develop a concept for a three-storey building, with the ground floor and part of the first given over to an extensive spa zone — integrated into the wider hotel infrastructure specifically to raise the investment appeal of the project. The brief also called for well-organised service space in the basement: pool water treatment, loading and unloading for the restaurant, staff changing rooms with showers and WCs, and a staff break room. Our team proposed placing the first-floor guest rooms directly adjacent to the spa centre, with maximum sound insulation, so that guests staying there are genuinely comfortable.
Irina Filippova
Project Architect
SPA — Sanitas Per Aquas — means health through water. Working with Vedic architecture produced a space that restores your resources on its own: the structure of the building and the energy of the landscape are threaded together to give back the vitality that city life takes from us. It is an oasis of health, a place to be at ease with yourself, where gadgets stay switched off.
The philosophy of Forest Spa is the five elements that live in all of us — and they meet each guest according to what that guest needs.
The Project
Forest Spa is a wellness space built on the laws of Vastu Shastra — the recorded part of the Vastu Vidya teaching, the broader Hindu system of architectural and design guidance found in texts three thousand years old. The plan is divided into sectors drawn from the five elements: water, air, fire, earth and space. A glazed atrium with a winter garden holds the centre; the pool and relaxation areas face north; and the high-temperature banyas and saunas sit on the eastern, fire side. The changing rooms and the salt room carry the air element. The zoning exists to bring guests to energetic and emotional balance, full recovery and release from stress.
Separate lifts and staircases let guests travel to treatments in robes and slippers, which allows the hotel to offer a distinct category of room at a higher rate and a higher standard of comfort. It creates the conditions for genuine rest and strengthens the hotel’s position in its market.
Materials & Decor
The interior reflects a unity with nature, combining minimalism with natural materials. Panoramic windows open views onto the forest and visually widen the space. The colour decisions underline the link to the elements: earthy browns stand for stability and balance, while green brings freshness and harmony. Walls and floors are finished in microcement, which gives a feeling of solidity. Porcelain stoneware adds accents and creates a play of light and shadow, and the art-concrete pool embodies the power of water. Soft, muted light makes Forest Spa an island of calm in the heart of untouched nature.
Delivery
One of the key stages of our work is preparing a preliminary cost estimate for delivering the project, which makes it possible to find items to optimise the budget while still at the earliest stage. The estimate is set out in a clear table where the client can see every anticipated cost. Our team draws up the schedule of works, payments and procurement, and answers clients’ questions in full.
This integrated approach lets us keep control of the process and respond quickly to changes in the market, without any loss to the appearance or the function of the project.
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About the Architect
Irina Filippova
Chief Architect
Irina Filippova leads all interior design and architectural consultancy for I Feel Spa International, and was the project architect on Forest Spa. She founded the group’s design bureau and is the creator of award-winning spa interior concepts across Russia, the CIS and the Middle East.
Her work runs from the first concept sketch through to the finished interior — wellness spaces, hotel spas, medical spa centres and full resort renovations — with a particular interest in design that follows the logic of the guest journey and the character of the landscape around it.