What’s the vibe?
The building is widely considered to be one of London’s greatest architectural masterpieces. Designed by Eero Saarinen in the 1960s, it’s a celebration of American modernism with a few more flamboyant details, such as the massive gilded eagle that sits atop the building—now the centerpiece of the rooftop Eagle Bar—and the rhythmic concrete zigzags that lend the façade its eye-catching shimmer. With the help of David Chipperfield, it’s been leveled up once again: The legendary British architect endeavored to open its colossal interior spaces, making them feel light and airy. No mean feat for a former bureaucratic building, but if its jaw-droppingly dramatic lobby is anything to go by, it’s been achieved.
The design of the Asaya Spa, meanwhile, was overseen by Yabu Pushelberg, the Canadian design studio known for its work on the Four Seasons and Peninsula hotels in New York. The end result is a complex that feels less like a spa and more like a private members club: Think vast expanses of plush, padded walls, brass accents, and gentle lighting that will make you look like you’ve had a full eight hours of sleep even if you’ve just got off a long-haul flight. The treatment rooms, meanwhile, have an equally moody air, with wood paneling and miniature sculptures on shelves, along with sumptuous marble bathrooms for a decadent posttreatment soak.
Photo: Ben Anders/Courtesy of The Chancery Rosewood
What should you try?
The massage options were developed in collaboration with the cult-favorite aromatherapy brand Moods, offering eight “neuro-aromatic” blends designed to alter your emotional state. Clearly my therapist, Divah, had noticed my own mood was a little glum—probably at least in part due to the driving London rain that had drenched me on the way over—and after a quick consultation, including a blind testing of multiple formulas to see which attracted me most, suggested Euphoric, a floral, citrusy scent with notes of neroli, geranium, and petitgrain. It was just the ticket. While Divah also gave me a brief overview of the various techniques involved in the massage to come—myofascial release, lymphatic drainage, effleurage, and pressure-point work—once things got underway, what it mostly felt like was just a really, really excellent deep-tissue massage, with all of the dull throb of knots being worked out and that loose, light tingling feeling in the shoulders posttreatment that tells you something’s shifted. Afterward, I sat to sip chamomile tea by a crackling fireplace before heading to lounge on a sofa in the jewel-box swimming-pool room, feeling very relaxed indeed.
