Beyond Rest, Collingwood, Melbourne Floatation Centre Interior, Australian Architecture Images

Beyond Rest in Collingwood Melbourne

27 Jan 2021

Beyond Rest

Design: FMD Architects

Location: Collingwood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Beyond Rest is a floatation centre housed in an industrial warehouse in Collingwood Melbourne. Float tanks are used for both relaxation and rehabilitation purposes by a wide ranging client base. This is a growing wellness industry which offers a range of physical and mental health benefits.

The space is a temple of serenity. The design uses sacred geometry to plan the space as well as in the fine detail seen in the custom-made joinery and light fittings. Sacred geometry derives forms, patterns and proportions systems from nature.

These geometries have been incorporated in a range of sacred structures of all religious types and cultural origins for thousands of years. The use of the geometry elevates the spatial experience, which is in line with the heightened mental state one achieves through floating.

The tanks are housed in spaces which have been designed to the proportions of a hen’s egg, which is another example of sacred geometry.

These then radiate around the space creating a circular plan around which the users circumambulate. Support spaces including waiting areas and chillout zones flow from the pod spaces. There appears to be no end to the spaces as you move around the space, reflecting philosophies of infinite cyclical life forces.

The continual movement of the curving walls and almost infinite spaces reinforce the elevated state you achieve while floating, then reconnect you to the ground as you leave. The user passes through a series of spaces that gradually become less geometric and more abstract, enabling a feeling of disassociation from the outside world and opening possibilities to travel further within.