_The art of zen living: London's new residential developments that want you to feel good
Buildings for the soul: the high rise of zen living
Developers are curating wellness amenities associated with a luxury spa hotel but with additional features woven into the building’s design - from finer elements such as acoustics, layout, colour palette and natural light to ‘community focussed’ shared areas which facilitate socialising, learning or keeping body and mind in shape.
These wellness areas can include an events room (for resident-run learning or group classes such as yoga or cooking), gym, library, bar, roof terrace or landscaped garden.
Complete wellness is a balance between the environmental, emotional, physical, spiritual, cerebral, social and occupational
And with architects predicting that residents’ wellness will be at the heart of future building design we should expect homes to keep us balanced and firing on all cylinders well into our dotage.
We look at some of London’s very best luxury new developments offering buyers that bonus feel good factor – be it intellectual, spiritual or physical.
Lillie Square – Earl’s Court
Lillie Square's Clubhouse where residents can meet friends, organise communal events and relax with the Sunday papers
Earls Court’s trophy luxury new residential development pitches itself as a ‘London’s residents’ club’ - over 18,000 sq ft of luxury apartments, penthouses, townhouses and garden squares.
The emphasis on five-star living is central to the Lillie Square experience, with future residents’ wellness needs catered for via the development’s private Clubhouse housing a hotel-style cinema room, residents’ lounge with library, coffee bar, wine storage facilities, kids playroom and private dining space.
Practically impossible for buyers not to feel zen when investing in Lillie Square, the Clubhouse also offer state-of-the-art health and well-being facilities, including a private spa, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, fully equipped gym and 20-metre swimming pool.
The development also goes big on lifestyle, with a 24-hour concierge service on call to organise all aspects of a resident’s social life a well as hosting exclusive community focussed events such as garden parties.
The location also fulfills the criteria for intellectual wellness, with South Kensington’s ‘museum mile’ a short walk away.
Canaletto - EC1
Canaletto caters for a new generation of resident that expects wellness to be integrated into the places in which they live, work and play
A blueprint for a 21st Century luxury ‘vertical neighbourhood’ and one of London’s latest skyscraper residential developments built with at least five of the seven wellness dimensions at its core, residents of EC1’s 31-storey Canaletto need never to be lonely, unfit or under stimulated again.
With emphasis on ‘getting the most out of each day’ and the antidote to luxury living in solitude, buying an apartment at Canaletto gives buyers access to the building’s restaurant, concierge, luxury pool, spa, cinema room and communal ‘living room’ from which residents can work, watch television en masse or play snooker.
Feel like a boogie, nightcap or a bite to eat at midnight? Why endure the inconvenience of travelling outside of your home – a short lift ride away is the building’s in-house, 24th floor resident-only private members’ Club Canaletto, with panoramic sky terrace offering cityscape views.
Never leave home again: Landmark Pinnacle features a kids' play area, private dining space, Pilates space and rooftop gardens
Landmark Pinnacle - Canary Wharf
Part of a small crop of meticulously curated London new developments, another residential building with residents’ zen at its core is Canary Wharf’s 74-storey Landmark Pinnacle, conceived by award-winning architects Squire and Partners. One of London’s tallest residential towers, the building offer amenities which tick many of the wellness boxes.
The 360 ‘skybox’ views over the capital combined with a waterfront location are, for a start, enough to put a spring in the step in even the most hardened of residents; but it’s the building’s five floors of dedicated wellness amenities that make Landmark Pinnacle a paradigm of 21st Century communal luxury living.
Focussing on central principles of ‘wellness' - family, social, environment, work, fitness and relaxation, areas include media rooms, private cinema, dining room, children's play area, glass-fronted garden lounges, Pilates and relaxation area.
Two further social lounge encourage the nurturing of friendship or collaboration among residents while a work lounge and library facilitate working from home or business on the fly.
The top of Landmark Pinnacle, Level 75, is crowned with two roof terraces offering cinemascope views across London.
Properties available in Landmark Pinnacle
Long & Waterson - Shoreditch
New York-style Shoreditch development Long & Waterson caters for the wellness criteria of millenials seeking work life balance
In a balance between city living, relaxation and collaboration the starchitects and developers of Shoreditch's New York style residential development Long and Waterson clearly did in their homework when identifying the holistic, social and occupational needs of future buyers, resulting in an exciting place to live in London’s uber-hip Shoreditch.
Appealing to fast-paced millennials, multi-functional apartments have been designed with transient lifestyles in mind, with clever floor-to-ceiling partitioning allowing for fluidity in layout. Pulling the partition separates spaces which can be set up to create a home office, an additional bedroom or for letting out to potential tenants.
It ranks well on the physical and social wellness spectrum too, luxury amenities are many and include a library for impromptu conference calls or a to quietly curl up with a book, wet and dry saunas for unwinding after work, state-of-the-art gym, private cinema and an NYC-inspired high line garden.
Location-wise, Long and Waterson fulfils the criteria for work and socialising nirvana. The development strikes a deal between trendy Shoreditch and its numerous leisure and social offerings, and, come Monday morning, getting to work within ten minutes, with many of the development’s professionals working in tech, law or finance in the City.
Searching for a new home with five-star amenities? Knight Frank markets some of London's most exciting new residential developments. Contact one of our London offices for help or informal advice, or carry out a property search.