Duet Captures Australia’s First Light in Comma Byron Bay Design.

Duet has blown apart the playbook for spa design with Comma Byron Bay. This isn’t your typical wellness space with beige walls and whispered conversations. Instead, Susie McIntosh’s concept bathhouse is a proper glow-up that makes you feel energised from the moment you walk in. The Melbourne studio was tasked with designing the “wow” moments—the lobby and reception—and they’ve delivered something brave, bold, and unapologetically vibrant.

Cape Byron catches Australia’s very first light each morning. Duet grabbed onto this idea and ran with it. “The very first light the mainland of Australia receives is at Cape Byron, so very loosely we discussed the idea and intensity of ‘Dawn’, the light, the silence and the calm of that moment, but also the anticipation, the excitement, for a new day,” explain directors Dominique Brammah and Shannon Shlom. That concept gave them permission to be bold. Really bold.

Wellness From Within: Adytum Spa in Canberra by Pattern Studio.

Pattern believes wellbeing cannot and should not be separated from the quality of our built spaces. The Adytum Spa lends weight to the thinking that it's possible to design for pleasure and wellness.

The whole design philosophy centres on one word: glow. High gloss paint everywhere, mirrors catching light, and strategic lighting that makes the space feel warm and alive. The colour palette is deliberately anti-white. We’re talking warm biscuity base colours with hits of what Duet calls “almost garish varieties”—rusty reds, buttercup yellow, deep mustard, and a piercing neon orange.

These punchy colours get grounded by earthy materials like untinted tadelakt and chunky salvaged timber. The result feels lived-in and homely, but also completely unlike anything else in Byron Bay.

Walking through Comma is like following a carefully planned story. You start with the high-energy reception—angular counter, zigzag storage wall, and a custom timber banquette topped with a glowing neon artwork by Ryan Hoffmann. Then the space gets more intimate as you move deeper in.

Floating Realities: Origin Float Spa in Geneva, Switzerland by BUREAU.

Intimate, calm and timidly erotic, this float centre in Geneva feels worlds away from reality. Abstract geometries juxtapose with ridiculous figurative elements while a series of pastel colours wrap and unfold everything they encounter.

The clever bit is how the palette shifts. Those warm, glowing reception colours give way to cooler dirty blues and chocolate browns in the bathrooms, naturally slowing your pulse before you hit the bathhouse and treatment rooms below.

Hand-painted mirrored panels create what Duet calls “a beguiling illusion”—basically, they play tricks with your eyes using striped reflections that make you question what’s real and what’s reflected.

This is wellness design with confidence. No apologetic neutrals or hushed tones here—just spaces that know exactly what they’re doing and aren’t afraid to show it.

2020: A Spa Odyssey in Caracas by Atelier Caracas.

In the Venezuelan capital, visitors are submerged in an alternate universe with interiors reminiscent of a Sci-Fi film. Designers injected colour and energetic personality, bringing unpredictability to relaxation spaces.

[Images courtesy of Duet. Photography by Anson Smart.]