Tām Wellness Spa

A first-floor spa in Ranka, Gangtok, designed around Sowa Rigpa healing, with interiors that draw on Japanese Zen and Himalayan Tibetan design.

Tām is planned as a place to rest and recover through Sowa Rigpa, the traditional Tibetan system of medicine. Its treatments include massage with warm herbal oils, herbal baths and hot stone baths. The design gives these practices a calm, unhurried setting.

The interiors bring together two traditions that share a love of plain, natural materials. From Japanese Zen design come the timber-framed paper screens, low warm light and empty space. From Himalayan and Tibetan buildings come stone, carved timber, and the Bhutanese stone bath.

Decoration is kept to a minimum. Each room is defined by a short list of materials and by how the light falls on them.

Guests arrive by the stair into reception, with a lounge and a small café beside it. From there, one corridor runs the length of the floor and every room opens off it.

The treatment rooms sit along the corridor: a private massage room, a three-bed massage room, a foot massage area and a couple’s room with its own jacuzzi. The changing rooms, sauna and showers are grouped on one side, and the stone bath is placed at the far end as the last and quietest room.

Couple's massage room

In the treatment rooms, the beds face the windows, so guests look out to the valley during treatment. Paper screens divide the space without closing it off, and timber shelves hold the oils and towels used in each session. The rooms are kept simple so the therapist and the treatment remain the focus. A jacuzzi and shower are also attached to the couple's massage room.

Stone bath

Based on the Bhutanese dotsho, a hot stone bath used in Sowa Rigpa. River stones are heated and placed in a separate chamber at the foot of the bath to warm the water. The plumbing runs through a hidden spine behind it.

Windows

Louvres with fins set parallel to the street. Someone passing sees only the face of the fins, while guests inside still get side views of the valley.

Lighting

Warm 2700K light with no visible fittings, built up in four layers. Reception has smart controls, and the other rooms use simple dimmers.

Materials

Timber floors, lime-washed walls, paper screens, slate and river stone. Bands of white pebbles run along the base of the corridor walls and catch the low light.

Next project

ELVT

Branding & Visual Identity · 2025