Clodagh Creates the Ultimate Sensory Delight' at The Kiawah Island Club's New Spa.

When The Kiawah Island Club decided to add the ultimate spa to its collection of member delights, it chose a quiet peninsula overlooking the Kiawah River as the perfect site.

It's only fitting that the club entrusted creation of its spa to a designer named after a river.

Clodagh, named for a picturesque waterway in her native Ireland, is one of the hottest designers in the world, famous enough that she goes only by her given name. She was selected by Architectural Digest as among the world top 100 and inducted into Interior Design's hall of fame. Her high-profile projects include Robert Redford's Fifth Avenue penthouse overlooking Central Park. Yet never before has she been given a setting as "pristine and natural” as what she found at Kiawah, an Atlantic sea island near Charleston.

"At Sasanqua, we've sought to imbue our design with the incomparable essence of Kiawah's environment inside and out," said Clodagh. "You might be in one of the treatment rooms, watching the river flow through the swaying marshgrass as the staff massages your cares away. Or you'll practice yoga outside while breathing in the coastal breezes rustling through the ancient oaks and tall palmettos. Every aspect of this spa is designed to heighten your connection with nature."

Kiawah is one of the most carefully preserved islands on the East Coast, from its 10 miles of beach to its dense maritime forest. Already opened early 2003, Sasanqua. is named for the flower found throughout the island and the surrounding Lowcountry. Sasanqua is the newest addition to The Kiawah Island Club's collection of exclusive amenities that originated in 1993 with a graceful, cedar-shingled Beach Club by Robert A.M. Stern, now dean of the Yale School of Architecture. Acclaimed Tom Watson and Tom Fazio golf courses add to member choices.

"The settings at The Kiawah Island Club have been crafted by masters of their respective fields," said Charles P. Darby III, chairman of Kiawah Development Partners. "From our golf courses to clubhouses by Bob Stern and Bernard Wharton and our club restaurant by Tom Colicchio (of Manhattan's Craft and Gramercy Tavern), we seek to provide memorable yet atypical experiences while at Kiawah. Clodagh continues that tradition through her distinctive style at Sasanqua."

Clodagh was a strong fit for both her expertise in creating remarkable spas and her philosophy of providing "a quiet space for a few moments of self-centered celebration in today's time-impoverished world" - a mission central to The Kiawah Island Club's offerings.

"All through its renown history Kiawah has provided a retreat from the cares of the outside world, so I identified right away with the island's sense of place," said Clodagh. "Sasanqua will be an escape within an escape, a sanctuary where the only thing that matters is your personal needs."

Clodagh's design relies upon natural, textured materials so spa visitors sense and connect with their surroundings. One example is a courtyard built around moss-draped oaks that rise through the spa's wood floor. The courtyard walls are clad in thick bark siding to match the living bark of the trees, adding to the feeling that nature is palpably at hand.
"I like to root my design in the elements: earth, fire, water, and air," she said. "At Sasanqua, earth is represented through the natural slate floors and massive concrete ledges. Fire offers a warm, soothing glow through candles lining the ladies' changing-room entryway and through an inviting fireplace in the lounge. Water is represented by not only the river just outside, but artistic water features that bring water's calming sounds indoors. And the presence of air is evoked by both the light we've drawn inside and the spaces created outside."

Sasanqua's six treatment rooms feature stunning views of the ever-changing marsh grasses and Kiawah's deep, meandering river. Both ladies' and men's lounge areas offer multiheaded showers, private outdoor whirlpools, and steam rooms. A co-ed whirlpool extends off the sanctuary area where meditation, yoga, and tai chi classes will be enjoyed.

What are setting Sasanqua apart may be the level of expertise and service that the club specializes in providing its members. Custom-designed treatments and programs go beyond traditional massage and facials to nurture reflection and introspection, beauty enrichment, and healthy living. Details such as private dressing rooms with attendants, clothes steaming, aromatherapy towels, and many other soothing enhancements are the norm, not the exception.

"Our goal is to create distinctive spaces and continuously evolving services at a high level so club members can return often yet enjoy an invigorating experience each time," said Clodagh. "Even the treatments and skin-care products are original to Sasanqua, incorporating within body wraps flowers native to Kiawah. The offerings will change with each season.

"The biggest advantage of having a very private spa is that the staff knows the members, so they can anticipate individual preferences to a degree that cannot occur at an ordinary spa," she added. "Sasanqua will feel like one's own personal spa."

The 9,000-square-foot Sasanqua spa is adjacent to The River Course clubhouse. Members, their families, and guests at The Kiawah Island Club also enjoy world-class recreation and elegant dining in three distinct settings - The River Course, Cassique, and The Beach Club. The club is owned and operated by Kiawah Development Partners, master developer of Kiawah Island. Club memberships are available exclusively through KDP's affiliate, Kiawah Island Real Estate.

For more information, please visit www.kiawahisland.com

© SPA MANAGEMENT JOURNAL - DEC 03 / JAN 04