Below the limestone facades of the 1st arrondissement in Paris, Futurstudio designs Sant Roch, a 400 sq m subterranean thermal destination organizing contrast therapy between timber-lined saunas and five sub-zero plunge pools.
Founded by Jules and Chloé Bouscatel, Sant Roch occupies two levels and houses the largest sauna in France at 60 square metres. Toronto-based Futurstudio took cues from the Roman baths of Lutetia and folded them into a material language that feels both archaic and precisely contemporary. Contrast therapy sits at the programme's centre: five cold plunge pools held between 3°C and 8°C against deep, sustained heat, prompting vascular shifts that improve circulation and accelerate recovery.
The sauna is a volume of horizontal timber slats running continuously across walls, ceiling and tiered benches in honey-toned wood. Indirect LED strips trace the junctions between each bench level and the ceiling line, casting an amber glow that dissolves the room's edges. A single wooden bucket and ladle rest on the lower bench, the lone object in a space otherwise given entirely to repetition and grain. Every slat aligns; every gap is consistent. It reads less like a wellness amenity and more like an instrument tuned to radiate warmth.
Transition through Sant Roch is orchestrated by material shifts as much as by temperature. From the reception, where cream-toned plaster walls meet a dark wood wainscot and a monolithic desk sits on herringbone stone tiles, visitors descend into corridors clad floor-to-ceiling in glossy, ribbed amber tiles. These curved passageways catch downlight across their ridged surfaces in an almost liquid shimmer. The cold plunge room inverts the sauna's warmth: cylindrical brushed-metal tubs stand against deep terracotta plaster, with an ornamental relief panel nodding to Art Nouveau geometry.
The locker room preserves a distinct identity. Dark walnut cabinets with brass latches sit beneath an ornate glass ceiling panel gridded in white, while the floor is a mosaic of cream tesserae punctuated by small gold fan motifs. Shower stalls are lined in dark stone with rain heads overhead and brass fittings that maintain the palette's metallic thread.
The relaxation lounge occupies a lower level, tiered in wide platforms upholstered in cognac leather. Mirrored walls multiply exposed globe lights, and ribbed amber tile columns anchor the perimeter. Guided sessions combine breathwork, sound immersion, meditation and embodied movement, led by practitioners trained in what the founders call the Sant Roch method.
What Futurstudio has built is not a spa in any conventional sense. The programme borrows from Nordic, Japanese and Roman bathing traditions, but the spatial language belongs to something closer to theatrical scenography, each room establishing a mood through surface, light and temperature before giving way to the next. Timber, plaster, glazed tile, brushed metal, mosaic, stone: every surface has a thermal or tactile rationale. The architecture earns its claim through discipline rather than spectacle.
