Project: Mineralbad & Spa Rigi Kaltbad on Mount Rigi

B2’s parent company Aqua Spa Resort Group also developed a new spa designed by Swiss firm Mario Botta Architetto that opened in July. Called the Mineralbad & Spa Rigi Kaltbad, it is located 5,000 feet up Mount Rigi near Lucerne, Switzerland, where spa going is a 600-year tradition.

Botta’s take on communal bathing is minimalist to the extreme. Walls of pale stone surround the indoor pool, which is topped by eight 10-foot-tall skylights that mimic rock crystals and allow sunlight to play on the water. The exterior pool and terrace, backed by a linear stone grid, offers views of the Alps. The water is from the Three Sister’s Spring and is heated to 95 degrees by a boiler fueled by logs cut from Mount Rigi’s forests.