Spa Voyage
The healing properties of water are experienced in more ways than one on Bota Bota.
When the Emond family was looking for a unique site in Montreal to open a second spa, they chanced upon an abandoned ferryboat hiding a rich history. Built in 1951, it plied Quebec's waterways for ten years before being converted into a travelling art centre in Expo '67. The family acquired the 171-feet ferry and worked with Sid Lee Architecture to give it a new lease of life as the world's first floating spa, literally re-inventing the predictable spa experience.
The Bota Bota offers a spa-sur-l'ean, or 'spa on water' experience through its invigorating hot and cold water circuit, saunas and steam baths that are attuned to the natural rhythms of the St. Lawrence river and powered by an innovative geothermal heating system. Preserving only the ferry's hull and main structure, two years of complex work revived the boat. 22,125sqft of space with a maritime-influenced design was fit into the Scandinavian spa that contains a reception area, a café, saunas, baths, massage and relaxation rooms and an outdoor deck.
The location of the stationery ferry itself is enthralling. 'The way that its positioned in the city is almost like it's providing a point of the view to the city [that] you've never seen before,' contemplates architect Jean Pelland of the ferry docked at the foot of the rue McGill in Montreal's Old Port against a backdrop of historical silos. 'It's actually pretty well-embedded in its environment because of the industrial feel to it.'
To board the boat, one takes physical – and mental – leave of the city's bustle. After crossing to an island of classical gardens, guests walk down a ramp to enter the ferry. Once inside, a crafted journey of contrasting dark and light, or, as Pelland puts it, 'nuit et jourso' provides a contemplative experience – darker, more intimate in spaces closer to the water and gradually brighter, airier above where impressive panoramic views open up.
This is helped by a simple yet appropriate design leitmotif. Pelland explains, 'What is most important in a ship, if you're looking at the outside is actually the portholes,' – 678 to be exact, applied in varying sizes and different spaces. Smaller portholes filter light into treatment rooms, providing privacy and framed views while in the yoga room, 'you have the large portholes...projecting over the end of the boat so when you're in it you feel like you're in a cocoon, suspended over the water,' he elaborates.
It is with this sensitivity that Sid Lee Architecture has done to the forgotten ferry what a spa treatment can do for the tired and restless – grant it a new lease of life in the gentlest of ways.
Text by Luo Jingmei
Images courtesy of Sid Lee Architecture unless otherwise stated