A world of wonders at the Dii

There’s a window out front of the Dii Wellness and Medical Spa at the new Central Embassy, but it doesn’t come close to revealing the magic that’s inside. The reception area is astonishingly futuristic, with elegant and ethereal white spiral columns from floor to ceiling, set off against black walls.

Even if you didn’t arrive with aches in need of curing, curiosity alone would compel further exploration.

“Many passers-by are just curious at first, but a lot of them have become our customers,” says Taneth Jiraswakedelok, director of DVN International, which runs both the Dii and the Divana Spa. 

Architect Amata Luphaiboon came up with the decor at the Dii, aiming for something utterly unique and also reflective of the “wellness” concept. He had only a 180-square-metre irregular square to work with, and it had to house seven treatment rooms.

Amata has won awards both at home and abroad for his designs, but in those cases had much more space to work with. These include the Six Senses Hideaway Resort on Koh Samui and the Hilton Pattaya lobby and bar. At the Dii, he had to maximise the creativity.

DVN International, meanwhile, was counting on the Dii to be its “flagship” wellness and medical spa, not just another outlet for a growing business but also a matter of brand diversification. Importantly, too, it’s is the first Divana-line spa to open in a shopping mall.

Regulars at the Divana spas are accustomed to a homey feel and ample space, as seen at the one occupying a beautifully renovated house on Srivieng Road. Putting a spa in a mall is a whole different matter, and Amata needed to devise an entire set of solutions.

He did so with grace and inventiveness, and the results are wonderful. 

To signify the integration of a beauty-and-pampering spa with modern medical technology, the designer chose the intricate spiral columns, which were made by hand to resemble the double helix of DNA, the foundation of life and the epitome of balance. To some, they might also be symbols of infinity. 

Beyond the reception area, in place of the usual vast open space, is a narrow corridor, also black – lit only by a line of faux candles and their multitude of reflections in the mirrored walls and, from above, by a galactic array of lights.

It’s an astronomical wonder, all the stars of the heavens and the seeming depth of the universe.

Behind these walls are the two treatment rooms for couples and three for singles, in warm though still sombre tones. They are equally futuristic, but there is nevertheless a sense of nature’s calmness inside. This is a future we can keenly look forward to. 

Again, the ceiling is covered by thousands of shimmering crystals, and the colour of these “stars” can be changed to match the treatment underway, part of the Dii’s “colour therapy” approach. 

Having evoked a well-deserved “wow” from the client with his visual design, Amata now faced another spatial challenge and, again, overcame it with ingenuity. 

These small chambers had to include the five treatment rooms, two rooms where the doctor meets his “patients” (and a bathroom too). The two-room medical clinic is partially, gently lit in white and generally more straightforward, by necessity. Its location isn’t immediately discernible, though, alongside the corridor entrance. 

The startling yet gorgeous design extends to the Dii’s menu of treatments and the packaging of its spa products. Rather than the typical photos of cheerful masseuses at work and bunches of herbs, the menu depicts dreamy, glamorous models clad in diaphanous drapery, bearing names like “Empress of the Sea”, “Andaman la Lunar” and “Ayurveda Black Marine”.

The future already present at the Dii might well become the immediate future of other spas. DVN intends this to serve as the prototype for more branches it’s planning to open, and Amata is meanwhile hoping for another award for his portfolio. 

Customer feedback has been robustly positive, justifying in large part the enormous expense of the undertaking. DVN has said the design and decor alone accounted for roughly 30 per cent of its overall costs.