Developed by Michel Kreuger and ex-footballer Kizito Musampa of Studio Noach, together with architect Anne Holtrop, the €9m (US$12m, £8m) Floating Gardens spa is due to open toward mid-2014.
The two-storey building will be located on a lake just outside Amsterdam’s city centre. It will feature four pools, two restaurants/bars, five saunas and three treatment rooms and will be covered with a ‘living wall’ of plants designed by renowned botanist Patrick Blanc. Its treatments will based around concepts such as psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), which looks at how emotions and health are linked; and neuroplasticity, a science focused on the brain’s potential to react to change, heal and renew itself.
The idea has been presented at various exhibitions since 2010, and has attracted high levels of interest. Michel Kreuger explains how the concept was born.
When was Studio Noach founded?
I founded it in 2008 with my business partner (ex Ajax Amsterdam player) Kizito ‘Kiki’ Musampa. It was based on our Green Floating concept, which uses recycled polystyrene to create floating buildings. The original idea was to build houseboats, but when the housing market stalled we move into wellness – a niche market that’s still in demand.
What is the Green Floating concept?
It’s all based on building on a foundation of recycled polystyrene, which is as strong as steel, but can flex by 17 per cent and is also buoyant and provides excellent insulation. This structure is coated by fibreglass and a layer of vegetation covers the top of the building. We always knew that the carbon footprint of our buildings had to be neutral – we’ve actually gone one step further and made it carbon negative because the vegetation will convert CO2 to oxygen.
How did the partnership with Patrick Blanc come about?
The idea of having vegetation on the walls and roof came from the floating gardens created in the 1970s and 1980s by the Dutch artist Robert Jasper Grootveld. We wanted to create a structure similar to that; when we teamed up with architect Anne Holtrop he said there’s a better way of doing this – a new technique developed by Patrick Blanc, the creator of the living wall.
Blanc’s technique is based in the idea that you don’t need soil to grow plants – all you need is sunlight, nutrients, minerals and water. He wraps a composite cloth material around buildings, which just needs to be sprinkled with water for a few minutes each day – using this technique you can have plants on the side of walls.
It wasn’t easy to contact Patrick, but when we did he got very enthusiastic about our idea because what we had created was an ecological loop – normally his vertical gardens use rainwater with added nutrients and minerals, but our building floats on freshwater so the plants can use that.
How did you choose the location for the first Floating Gardens?
We’re based in Amsterdam, and we have a freshwater lake around 15 minutes outside the middle of the city. It’s a place where you can relax and look over the horizon, while being very close to the city centre and the 17th century canals.
The Amsterdam local government is trying to move away from the image of the red light district and the coffee shops and encourage more visitors interested in Van Gogh, Rembrandt and the canals. I think that sort of audience would be keen to go on a boat trip, and come and spend half a day in the spa.
What facilities will the spa have?
On the ground floor there will be four pools, including an outdoor infinity pool and a hot tub. There will also be two restaurants/bars and five saunas. The top floor will feature three treatment rooms and a large room for group therapy such as hot yoga.
What will set the Floating Gardens apart from other spas?
We are competing with four- and five-star city centre hotels. In these hotels, the spa facilities tend to consist of a pool and a sauna – sometimes in the basement – where the view is of someone else’s genitals! In our case you have a beautiful view across the lake and gardens.
How did Musampa get involved?
I live on the canal close to the red light district, and one day I saw a Lamborghini with a Spanish licence plate. I kept seeing it and noticed the owner paying a parking meter. Parking meters in Amsterdam are some of the most expensive in the world. A few weeks later I recognised him in a restaurant and I offered him my spare parking permit – I was quite surprised when he turned out to be the professional footballer Kiki Musampa. Months later we got closer, he got enthusiastic about my plans and he said he’d like to get involved.
Kiki is originally from the Congo. His father is a professor of botanics, so he already had an interest.
How is the project being funded?
Kiki is mainly funding it. We are also in the process of negotiating a roll out of the concept to the rest of the world, but I can't say too much about that yet. We need to get the first spa out so that we have a flagship.
Who will the spa attract?
It will be quite high-end – it will attract four and five-star visitors.
What kind of treatments will you offer?
Spas shouldn’t just offer treatments for relaxation purposes: change is what people are really looking for.
Areas such as psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), which looks at how emotions and health are related, and the links between stress and disease, will be explored in some of our treatments.
I’ve travelled the world researching treatment ideas. I met many teachers, but it was the Tibetan Lamas in India and Nepal who really opened my eyes. I learned that it’s possible to not only change the mind, but also the structure of the brain. Today, pioneering experiments in neuroplasticity, a new science studying the brain’s potential for change, reveal that we are capable not only of altering its structure but also of generating new neurons. There’s now clear evidence that the brain can adapt, heal and renew itself. Our spa will offer this wealth of knowledge to its customers.
