Wellness at Work: Tour an In-Office Spa in Chicago

Senior Project Designer Shelby Thompson details Kuchar’s hospitality-level wellness spa for a Chicago financial firm

It’s unusual for a finance office to feature a sauna — but should it be?

When we talk about bringing people back to the office, wellness is almost always part of the conversation — but too often, it shows up as a box to check. A few plants here, a softened color palette there. When we began working with a Chicago-based financial firm, they knew they wanted something more immersive: a true retreat inside a high-performance workplace, designed to support employees whose days are long, intense, and largely desk-bound.

What Fortune 500 companies are realizing is that to bring people back to the workplace in 2026, they need to offer amenities that are better than home. This private wellness spa was designed with that idea at the core — and the result is hospitality-level, deeply considered, and unapologetically restorative.

The showers at this in-office spa were designed to mimic those at a luxury wellness facility or an employee’s own private residence.

Rethinking Wellness at Work

Remote work reshaped expectations around comfort and flexibility, meaning that offices have had to evolve from places people have to be into places they actively choose to go. That shift has fueled demand for amenities that simply can’t be replicated at home: state-of-the-art fitness centers, elevated food and beverage programs, and increasingly, wellness experiences that feel genuinely transportive.

This client was already very invested in employee care, with onsite meals, baristas serving coffee and smoothies, a robust gym, and more communal amenities. The spa felt like a natural next step — an added layer of care that acknowledged the mental and physical toll of high-stakes finance. These traders spend so much time at their desks, so we wanted to give them a place where they could truly step away, unplug, and reset without ever leaving the building.

Designing this spa required the removal of several meeting rooms and a portion of a hallway — but the resulting space blends seamlessly with the rest of the office.

Making Space for a True Retreat

Carving out space for the spa was one of the project’s biggest challenges. This wasn’t a blank slate; it required working within an existing office footprint and negotiating real spatial constraints. We conducted a pre-design study to explore multiple locations, evaluating everything from plumbing feasibility to mechanical requirements. An early option — an underutilized storage area — quickly proved too tight and came with significant MEP hurdles.

The final solution involved removing three meeting rooms and a portion of a hallway, reshaping circulation to create enough room for the program the client was committed to. That program was nonnegotiable: two ice plunge baths, an eight-to-ten-person sauna, private restrooms with showers, and lockers that could also serve the adjacent fitness area. With raised flooring, concrete ceilings, and existing infrastructure to contend with, we had to make sure everything fit spatially and functionally.

Given the spa’s very industrial setting, we relied heavily on the power of intentional materiality and lighting.

Designing the Experience Within an Industrial Shell

The building itself has a strong industrial character — exposed concrete ceilings, structural honesty, and a distinct Chicago sensibility. Rather than hiding that, we leaned into the contrast. The client gravitated toward this industrial, boutique-hotel feel, and the juxtaposition of a luxe, high-end spa set against a rough, exposed ceiling felt not only right but very true to place.

To soften the shell without erasing its character, we focused on warmth through materiality and detail. Glass-graded partitions (used elsewhere in the office) create visual continuity while subtly defining zones within the spa. Warm wood finishes temper the hardness of concrete and porcelain, and lighting does much of the emotional heavy lifting. With no access to natural light, we layered illumination carefully: soft wall sconces in circulation areas, pendants that glow rather than glare, and a balanced mix of linear lighting and accent fixtures around the ice baths. The result is a space that feels intentionally dimmed, calm, and restorative — never dark.

Material selection followed the same philosophy. In a spa environment, softness has to be implied rather than literal. Every surface needed to withstand water, heat, and heavy use, so we leaned into durable materials with elevated finishes. Porcelain slabs with marble-like veining establish a clean foundation, vintage-inspired hex tile adds texture, and warm wood tones (used in laminate and for the sauna) bring a sense of quiet comfort. Lockers are finished in a warm gray-green, an unexpected but grounding choice, while brass accents introduce subtle warmth and a hospitality-forward feel.

It was important to us to include details that felt not only hospitable, but homey as well.

Zoning, Details, and the Feeling of Escape

Despite the open layout, the spa is carefully zoned to support privacy and immersion. The ice baths remain visually connected but are acoustically and spatially buffered, allowing users to feel secluded even when others are present. Interestingly, the lack of natural light became an asset. It creates what we like to call a “spa cave” — a place that feels completely removed from the pace and pressure of the trading floor above.

There are also smaller, signature Kuchar moments that help tell the story. A green concrete floor tile grounds the space while nodding to the building’s industrial roots. Looped leather pulls at the towel drop add a tactile, almost residential detail that contrasts with the sleek architecture. These are the elements that elevate the experience: small gestures that connect the spa back to the larger narrative of the building and the brand.

From durable porcelain slabs to water-resistant laminate, every element of this in-office spa was designed to support employees for years to come.

Continuing the Conversation…

As wellness continues to shape workplace design, projects like this point toward a more ambitious future. When people hear “wellness,” they often think of plants or nature-inspired colors, but we have to think further ahead. Meditation rooms, sound baths, cold plunges and saunas, even matcha bars — these are experiences that, for the most part, can’t be replicated at home, and that give people a real reason to get excited about returning to the office.

For us and for our client, this spa isn’t just an amenity. It’s a statement about care, culture, and what the modern workplace can be. In a world where the office has to earn its place in daily life, sometimes the most productive thing a company can offer is a space to truly unplug.