Float Station

Not Your Father’s Altered State

When a pioneering new business wanted a space that offers complete isolation from the sensory world, JENSEN created a futuristic, minimalist retreat for next-level meditation.

Next Generation Spa

First developed in the 1950s and later sensationalized in the 1980 thriller Altered States, sensory deprivation tanks have gained a new following as a mind-opening, body-healing therapy. In Silicon Valley, JENSEN helped entrepreneurs reimagine floating as a 21^st century healing experience: minimal, beautiful and completely free of the world’s distractions. From the moment one enters this custom designed building, a subdued sensuality sets the tone, obscuring the meticulous engineering behind the carefully crafted experience, where sensory stimuli like light and sound are painstakingly curated.

Follow the Light

Lights concealed in coves throughout the spa follow a circadian rhythm — shining cooler during the day and becoming warmer as dusk approaches — to keep guests attuned to the natural cycle of the day. Inside the float rooms, the hue and brightness are set to enhance relaxation as a transition to the total darkness and silence within the pod, where one floats in 10 inches of body-temperature water, buoyed by the addition of medical-grade Epsom salt. The sequence is automated but for added comfort clients retain complete control of the lights throughout the experience.

New Terrain

This project is the first purpose built floatation isolation tank center in the region, so it was completely new territory for the city planners and building officials to consider. Throughout the sui generis approvals process, JENSEN collaborated closely with the city staff to demystify the concept, with its custom technologies and unusual mechanical requirements, and to foster the understanding needed to earn the city’s unanimous support of the project.

Sealed Silence

The client’s strict soundproofing criteria for the space required careful and inventive consideration. To create an environment where one can hear neither their footstep nor any hint of the train station just across the street, specialists recommended floating the walls on isolation clips of resilient rubber pads, and using double panes of laminated glass with varying thicknesses to dampen different audio frequencies. A thick rubber padding beneath the residential grade oak flooring deadens footfalls, insulating and sealing every part of the space from the transmission of sound, inside and out.

Float Station

Next Generation Spa

Follow the Light

New Terrain

Sealed Silence

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Architects

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Contractor

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Float Station

Next Generation Spa

Follow the Light

New Terrain

Sealed Silence

Press

Architects

Consultants

Contractor

Photographer

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