The need for vibrant third spaces has become increasingly pressing in the last few years. People are seeking new activities and communities through which they can engage their mind, body and spirit, under light supervision and even looser guardrails. Hospitality, once centred around hotels and restaurants, has expanded into the wellness sphere—and this wellness hospitality is here to stay.
Branded fitness activations, run clubs, saunas, sound baths, contrast suites: the twenty-first century has managed to rebrand the social concept of “thick community,” a term coined by Robert Putnam in Bowing Alone (2000). In essence, the concept is simple. Organised structures that facilitate gathering are important to the social and mental wellbeing of a community.
What used to exist in the form of bowling leagues or religious affiliate groups, now looks a little bit different. Today’s “thick communities” have brands, creative identities, even matching Tracksmith uniforms. Social wellness promises the meeting of friends beyond the usual confines of a restaurant or bar. Running through the Flatiron District in Manhattan, for instance, one might stumble upon the “Flatiron wellness corridor,” an area that is home to a notable concentration of New York’s latest obsession: the bathhouse.
Tan FRP panels diffuse the light within the Vestibule
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Among these bathhouses, one stands out: The Altar. A proponent of “exploring a culture of health through the strength of a collective,” it is a bathhouse whose mission is rooted in the service of community. Anyone concerned that the experience might feel like a return to high school, showering with teammates after volleyball practice, will be quickly disarmed. The Altar, and project architects Marsollier Villacorta LLC, have rendered it chic to carry out self-care practices in public. Offering more than contrast therapy, members have access to vitamin IVs and shots, NAD therapy, hyperbaric oxygen, compression therapy, red light therapy, and PEMF treatments. Meanwhile, the lighting, sound, temperature and atmosphere of the space transport guests into an unexpected world, a novel type of euphoria for a weeknight in Manhattan.
Cyril Marsollier and Wallo Villacorta—the architects behind Marsollier Villacorta LLC—were originally brought together through an architectural competition that highlighted their complementary vision and way of working together: Marsollier takes inspiration from architecture and art, and Villacorta from cinema and music. It is their shared love of exploring “un-designed” spaces that provides much of the creative referencing for their design process.
For The Altar, Marsollier and Villacorta drew inspiration from a broad range of historical and contemporary references, from Middle Eastern and North African hammams and Roman baths to modern underground nightclubs. Rather than polarise, these two veins of inspiration make perfect sense in a space like this. Together, they create an atmosphere of comfort and intimacy for bodies engaged in shared wellness rituals. This is a space in which functionality and aesthetics jibe with lighting, temperature, sound and technology.
The showers are clad with softly brushed stainless steel panels to pick up the reflections of the lighting above
The deep atrium benches and columns clad in bush hammered granite
| Stella Vie Peters | How did you come together to start your firm? |
| Cyril Marsollier | We met briefly at university in 2008 and started collaborating in Chicago in 2010, upon Wallo’s return from Switzerland and mine from Paris. An architectural competition brought us together, focused on the preservation of the Prentice Women’s Hospital. We won the competition and realised that our workflow was highly collaborative and complementary. We both worked in-house as designers for Aesop in New York City, and eventually started doing independent projects together. Our first two commissions as MV-LLC happened to be in our respective home towns—a cafe in Lima, Peru, and a restaurant in Saint-Malo, France. Both of these projects required keen exploration of existing conditions and very intentional interventions, as well as a focus on local materials as the fundamental components of fabrication. |
| SVP | How do your respective backgrounds shape your work? |
| CM | Coming from Lima and rural Bretagne, we are both pragmatic regarding construction. For Wallo, Lima was a lesson in being resourceful and building elegant projects with economic constraints. Similarly, construction in Bretagne is very elemental: architecture is made from the land using nearby materials. Design, here, is the product of the context. |
| Wallo Villacorta | Growing up in Chicago, after leaving Peru, was key for my development: the city and its rich heritage of architecture is ingrained in my memory. Cyril’s prior experience in urban design brings in the structuring of a project, and the applied rationals and dynamics under consideration, at all scales. |
| SVP | How did you become involved with The Altar? |
| CM | The clients were presented to us via Desselle Partners, a Paris-based agent that represents architects and designers. We had a great conversation with the clients that set the tone for the collaboration. They were also fresh to the wellness space, and had a strong vision for the mood they wanted to create. |
| SVP | Are there special details in your design for The Altar that you are particularly excited about? |
| CM&WV | Besides the strong focus on lighting—ensuring bodies would be optimally lit—one of the things we appreciate most is the texture of the stone. We used bush-hammered granite throughout, laid in a perfectly proportioned tile. It is a really subtle transition from the street to the interior of the space. We focused on the tactile feeling underfoot, and the temperature. There’s a cooling system which runs under the stone in the sauna and prevents the stone from overheating. The stone stays cool and tempers the transition from hot to cold. We also commissioned bespoke hardware, like the faucet at the central water feature: it was fabricated in Ciudad de México, and we spent time fine-tuning the resistance and flow. |
| SVP | What type of research and referencing did you do for this project? |
| CM&WV | Fundamentally, the existing space was a cellar, with massive columns supporting the city above (metaphorically). There was an immediate interest in referencing hypostyle rooms and responding to the rhythm of the oversized columns. The structure is exposed and celebrated, framed by the original columns. The plan itself references bathhouses, temples, and spiritual spaces. The programme is on a central axis: the sauna and the showers are in line with the atrium and the water feature. The cold plunges and changing rooms are accessible via the four corners of the central space, symmetrically. We cultivated an organised maze reminiscent of a nightclub, which ushers people from room to room in natural procession. For lighting direction, we looked to the world of cinema and set design in order to transport visitors away from the chaos of Manhattan. |
| SVP | Recovery spaces have always been defined by how bodies move through heat, cold, water and rest. How did you sequence those components within the space? |
| CM&WV | From street to sauna, visitors experience decompression, flowing naturally through the temperature changes. Long, dimly lit corridors guide you to a dramatic stairwell, through a cinematic lower vestibule then a dim hallway, before entering the changing rooms. Guests smell the solid cedar upon entering the sauna. Showers are clad with softly brushed steel sheets, which subtly reflect the light and the bodies interacting with water. The water-resistant wood panelling provides a warm and textural background throughout. Once barefoot, you arrive at the atrium, deliberately designed to sit at the centre as the interstitial place between hot, cold, and the showers. It’s the heart of the plan, the point from which all the primary programmes radiate. It’s transitional, but it also affords the opportunity for rest and social interaction—post-heat, pre-cold, and vice versa. The wide bleacher seating sets the scene for conversation, lying down, leaning on the walls or columns, [and] people-watching. You’re no longer in the city but beneath it, moving at a slower pace, attuned to how your body feels. |
| SVP | Why does social wellness matter? |
| CM&WV | A well-designed space is one of the keys to being well, and existing well within a surrounding. This space exists in the context of a New York City cellar—it is a haven for self-exploration, pushing your own body boundaries and comfort. By design, the architecture of the space fosters collective encounters and encouragement, but also allows self discovery. The goal is to make you forget the cellar space, letting your mind travel beyond. |
Custom canvas light fixtures designed in collaboration with Brazilian designer Pedro Avila, flank the Atrium space above
The Cold Plunge Room, with tubs clad in a soft, warm birch plywood and custom canvas lights that provide additional warmth
The 50-plus-person sauna is meticulously and radially clad entirely in a light cedar wood, the floor and central oven are clad in bush hammered granite
*Credits