Cloud Twelve, London by Melt Design Hub


A members’ club that caters for adults and children creates spaces for families to spend time together and bond



Project Info

Client: Cloud Twelve
Design: Melt Design Hub


Words by Ellen Peirson

A wellness and lifestyle members’ club in Notting Hill can by its very existence only be exclusive. With a brief to create a ‘third space’, catering to both children and parents with an emphasis on holistic health, it is impossible to imagine anything but a sanitised space, impenetrable but for a few. However, at Cloud Twelve, Melt Design Hub has managed to create something that speaks to the complete opposite.

The space requirements were complex. Integrating a holistic spa, a state-of-the-art wellness clinic, a hair salon, a plant-based brasserie and interactive play and learn zone presents not just a schematic challenge, but also a technical one. Melt was challenged with including all of this and circulation space across three floors. The end result had to maintain the privacy of a members’ club, while still being welcoming and open.

The serene reception area has pale oak flooring and a cloud-graphic fronted deskThe serene reception area has pale oak flooring and a cloud-graphic fronted desk

In realising the programme, Melt imagined the scheme’s complexities as a Swiss watch, in which a range of functions and process must work alongside each other, sometimes intercepting, all in an incredibly small space.

This approach created a scheme that is not dictated by the complicated technical equipment required for the mix of natural, traditional and modern treatments.

Children have their own brightly coloured toilet facilities, and dedicated play areaChildren have their own brightly coloured toilet facilities and dedicated play area

Hidden away in the secluded Colville Mews, Melt has renewed the street presence, painting the contemporary but tired glazed facade in a strong royal blue. Improving the proportions, Melt has broken the glazing in two with a horizontal rendered panel. At the entrance, a double-height atrium creates a welcoming reception space and a sense of openness to both the brasserie above and the children’s play area in front. A clean palette of oak flooring and neutral walls accentuates the laser-cut oak veneer of the reception storage cupboards and the cloud mural of the desk.

The children’s play area is central to the members’ club’s ideology that it is a space for families to spend time together and bond – as opposed to being a getaway for parents. A bespoke woodland-themed soft play area creates a new world for the children to explore, among murals on the glass partitions by artist Daniela Terrazzini. These sliding partitions divide the space to form spaces for music and art classes. These elements come together to create a playful space for all family members, accentuated by small details such as cloud covers for ventilation units and green plastic moulded chairs, with an organic form.

Children have their own brightly coloured toilet facilities, and dedicated play areaThe dedicated children's play area

The children’s bathrooms are further playful still. Repurposed buckets in primary colours are used as basins, with a backsplash in coordinating tiles, while the toilets themselves are in the same colours. An appliqué woodland background seems as if users are looking through a window.

Reaching up to the first and second floors, an expansive atrium with a glass and oak staircase creates a gradual visual transition between the spaces and puts the available treatments on display. A curved desk on the first floor marks the entrance to the salon and spa, fronted with plaster panels with a pitted finish, featuring a relief leaf pattern.

Treatments include the thermal suite, and hair salonTreatment spaces include the thermal suite, and hair salon

The same neutral colour scheme is used throughout, with bursts of colour in the form of bold accessories and murals. Using mural wallpaper by Back to the Wall, Melt transformed the first-floor brasserie with an expansive print of a carved stone Buddha face. The brasserie itself is sectioned off with glass partitions, creating a visual relationship between the adjacent atrium and hair salon, while maintaining serenity in the latter.

The women’s changing room has embossed locker doors and contemporary chandelier lightingThe women’s changing room has embossed locker doors and contemporary chandelier lighting

The salon is where the Swiss watch analogy is best illustrated, as it sweeps around the side of the floor plate. The curved walls create intrigue in the space, while providing necessary storage space hidden by sliding bronze-effect doors.

Treatments include the thermal suite, and hair salonTreatment spaces include the thermal suite, and hair salon

Within the void created by the edge of the salon are four treatment rooms, described by Melt as ‘womb-like spaces, found in Balinese spas’. They offer a warm and enclosed ambience in contrast to the embracing, open spaces adjacent.

The spa and salon offer a range of Eastern wellness therapies, influenced by founder, Jenya Emets’ time spent in Japan and South Asia. Melt has extended this to the decor and choice of accessories. Throughout, Melt has incorporated a cherry blossom pattern, printed on to semitransparent fabrics and mounted on to backlit screens. This has been used to maximum effect in the treatment rooms, where the fabric diffuses the light and creates a gentle glow.

The wellness centre has its own brasserie, with both communal and individual seatingThe wellness centre has its own brasserie, with both communal and individual seating

For former investment banker turned entrepreneur Emets, this is the first venture into members’ clubs. Perhaps it is for this reason that the choice of accessories, when viewed individually, may seem incoherent. It is Melt’s talent that it has been able to draw together each of these stories, influences and styles, within a complex programme, to produce something that is both effortless and striking – clean-lined and elaborate.

Key Suppliers

Domus
Big Impact
Miles and Lincoln
Trend Global
Armourcoat Ltd
Ted Todd
Havwoods
Back to the Wall
Cole & Son
Vescom
Glyphics Limited
West One Bathrooms

 

 








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