HerLife Magazine featured Sensory Six’s very own founder and president, Sandra Fox, where she discussed their 21st Century Zen™ style and how they incorporate health and wellness into their designs. “It was truly an honor to be asked to share on creating spaces that promote health and wellness in this month’s HerLife Magazine Ask the Expert Spotlight.”
Sensory Six creates spaces for both residential and commercial in the boutique luxury market, and our designs have a unique health and wellness spin on them. The name Sensory Six comes from the strong belief that living and working spaces should be in harmony with all our senses and create a total sensory experience. Sensory Six creates unique designs by taking a holistic and integrated approach, specifically targeting people who have high appreciation of how aesthetics, functionality, and wellness work together. Our discriminating clients are people who appreciate luxury and harmony. They expect their spaces at work and at home to be a haven and an inspiration. Each project is designed with health and wellness in mind. What colors will inspire a desired mood? How will the use of organic and natural materials add to the space? How will we incorporate smart technologies to secure, heat and cool the home or commercial building? How will the lighting and audio-video be designed and easily accessed? Where will windows be placed to optimize natural light? How will the outdoor space be designed and how will we connect the indoor space to nature? What shape and texture of furniture will provide functional, comfortable and aesthetic seating? Our list of what we look at is extensive, but our goal is simple – extraordinary and luxurious spaces that make our clients smile.
“We know that one of the most important variables in keeping healthy is relationships. We designed and built this space to draw people in for conversation and fun – from the light fixture and art to the placement and multi-textured furnishings.” – Sandra Fox
Aligning with our vision, Sensory Six strives to adhere to WELL, the world’s first building standard focused exclusively on human health and wellness. In a WELL Certified Space, the environment can help improve nutrition, fitness, mood, sleep patterns and the performance of its residents and occupants. Pioneered by Delos, it uses evidence-based medical and scientific research to help designers build environments that support human health, well-being, and stress reduction. This means that we focus on seven performance areas that are relevant to health -- air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. For example, tailoring each space to work best for specific activities reduces stress by preventing roadblocks that keep people from accomplishing the tasks at hand. Or, when people have direct access to daylight or a view outside, it reduces blood pressure and chances for headaches and other health issues. By building around social interaction, Sensory Six can create a space that allows people to participate and be exposed to the activity of others. We incorporate natural elements such as courtyards, outdoor spaces and using natural materials to create a naturally calming effect on both biological and neurological levels, reducing stress hormones and physical fatigue.
"I love the use of wood and natural light in this outdoor patio we designed. It creates an intimate and serene place for connecting with nature and friends.” – Sandra Fox
Sensory Six designs benefit a variety of spaces like restaurants, lobbies, common areas, community spaces and residential homes. The commonality of all these places is that they must have functional, aesthetic, and a wellness appeal to the individuals who work, live and play there. At Sensory Six, we believe design can – and must – incorporate all three aspects to truly benefit people. Beauty that doesn’t allow you to function well is meaningless. Functionality without beauty provides joyless experiences. Not placing wellness front and center means that people cannot fully benefit daily as they use the space. For example, we have all experienced restaurants that were aesthetically pleasing, but not enjoyable to either dine or work in. What went wrong? Was the functional layout optimized to support the flow of the restaurant? Was the lighting designed to create both atmosphere and the ability to read menus, delight in the plating, and enjoy conversation? Were the seats visually appealing, but also provided the support for different body types? Creating an ambiance is way more than just picking out the right colors and textures. It is about enhancing the overall dining experience, which will draw customers back to the restaurant repeatedly.
“Functionality should tantalize the eye. We designed and built this open and serene area to enable the smart use of space while providing a warm and embracing place for entertaining.” – Sandra Fox
From a design perspective, there are always new trends, technology and products. We’re seeing an upsurge in repurposed materials, furnishings that emulate nature in shapes and colors, and amazing ways to use the Internet of Things to make spaces so much easier to live in and manage. From a business perspective, Sensory Six is growing just like the high-end, luxury market is growing in our community. That means we are collaborating on some wonderful projects in the Capital District that will truly enhance the quality of life here. As we become leaders in a new way to design that incorporates health and wellness principles, Sensory Six has been adding this philosophy to our projects in terms of natural lighting, smart technology, sustainable materials, and the use of design to create serene and connecting environments. Check out our most recent projects, the new Cantina restaurant in Downtown Saratoga Springs, NY and our 4th Druthers Brewing Company restaurant in Schenectady, NY. At Sensory Six, we are hoping to develop more services and products that can directly assist the construction market and use our passion for design to create a signature line of Sensory Six furniture and lighting. The possibilities are endless, and as Sandra says, “Sensory Six is just getting started.”
Have a project in mind, please contact us at 518-306-1099 or Info@SensorySix.com. We would love to help fulfill your vision and share our own!
Read the full HerLife Article: http://bit.ly/HerlifeSpotlight
Photo Credit:
Peter Barber/Daily Gazette Photographer
Randall Perry Photography
