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Heidar Sadeki is a filmmaker at heart. Prone to statements like “film is very rich and architecture is very boring” and “I’m a complete sucker for 1970s French new wave cinema”, Sadeki has a fascination with film that deeply influences his interior design schemes.
The Iranian-American designer is the co-founder of Richardson Sadeki, a New York-headquartered architecture studio with a knack for creating critically-acclaimed projects. The multi-disciplinary studio has proven particularly adept at designing high-end spas such as The Bathhouse at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Resort and Bliss 57 in New York City.
The company’s ethos is perhaps best summed up by Sadeki’s insistence that “we don’t think about who likes and who doesn’t like what we do. We do what we do because we like doing what we do. If we looked at what people like and then did what we did, we’d be politicians, not designers.”
Sadeki is a man who knows what he wants and says what he thinks. He is almost obsessively protective of the integrity of his designs – and admits to including a clause in his contracts that allows him to pull his name from a project if changes are made without his approval. But it is this acute sense of ownership that results in truly groundbreaking projects.
Espa, the newly-opened spa at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Hotel, is one such project. It is a rare and intelligent example of how contemporary and Islamic design can be successfully juxtaposed, and is interspersed with subtle strokes of design genius.
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The spa is heavily influenced by the traditional hammam, but also drew inspiration from the mosque. The design of Espa speaks of a journey towards enlightenment – a central promise of both the mosque and the hammam.
At the entrance to the spa, Sadeki has introduced hints of Carrara marble, a whisper of what’s to come. It is only once guests have emerged from their treatments and move into the cylindrical ‘tepid’ relaxation room that the design expands on this promise, and enlightenment comes. Here, sculpted furniture made from single blocks of Carrara marble is set against walls and floors in the same stone.
“The design folds back on itself and creates a narration,” said Sadeki. “I do believe that this kind of thing affects people subconsciously. The tepid room is a spiritual, sculptural space.”
In the middle of the room, a central column topped by a halo of light has been hollowed out to create a hidden alcove, where a shower of colour-changing fibre optic lights hang over a day bed, inviting guests to lie and linger. “I want to take you through an experience that cuts out the outside world, so you can recalibrate your senses,” said Sadeki.
Elements such as this are indicative of the level of thought that has gone into the design of Espa. Every detail has been deliberated and dissected. As such, there are toilets and showers at every turn (because nobody wants to be wandering around half-naked searching for a loo); spaces are preceded by a small foyer area, “so you have a place to recompose yourself”; mirrors have been carefully placed, because “we are at a time when people are incredibly self-conscious and self-critical of their bodies”; and, with their monochromatic colour scheme and hard angular surfaces, the ladies toilets are decidedly masculine, “which creates a wonderful sense of femininity for a woman because you become the most feminine element in the space”.
CID met with Sadeki to find out more about this project, and to learn about his unique approach to design.
Tell us about your career so far.
I founded the Richardson Sadeki studio with my partner Clarissa Richardson around ten years ago, after coming out of Princeton University, which is where Clarissa and I met. We’ve had a very alternative studio from the very beginning. We don’t really consider ourselves as architects with a capital A; we consider ourselves as creative directors. As such, we direct all creative disciplines within our projects. I think that is one of the differentiating points between us and similar practices.
It’s a very holistic approach and perhaps a part of it comes from the fact that my background is more in cinematic studies and film than in architecture. Consequently, a reference to other disciplines is quite prevalent in our work.
How did you fall into design?
I’m an untalented and defeated filmmaker! Architecture was my second choice.
What makes you a bad filmmaker but a good designer?
The age at which I graduated from film school and the age at which I graduated from architecture school. In both cases you need to be older and a little more mature to be able to pull it off!
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