Designed by local firm Biasol, Insight Body and Mind is a serene wellness studio that combines psychology services with mindful movement classes. Here designer Jean-Pierre Biasol tells us more

Design Anthology: What’s great about the neighbourhood and what makes the location unique?

Insight is located in Aberfeldie, a suburban area of Melbourne with a family-focused community. Insight Body and Mind is already well known in the area, with their original practice minutes away in Essendon. The new branding and 185-square-metre studio gives them ample street presence, especially as its positioned on one of the main high streets.

How did you approach the project — what design references or narrative did you try to incorporate into the space?

We wanted the studio to set a new benchmark in the industry as one of the first practices to offer psychology, yoga, barre and Pilates as one integrative experience. We used colours, materials, tones and textures to define and connect areas for a fully immersive spatial experience, from the ground-floor consulting rooms to the movement studios on the first and second floors. The branding, interiors and services are seamless, meaningful and conceived as one design.

Please tell us a little about the material choices for the space.

We went with two distinct yet complimentary colour schemes to represent psychology and movement respectively. Deep and earthy teal tones represent the professionalism of the psychology practice on the ground floor, while peach tones give the movement studios a sense of warmth, humanness and serenity. A gradient texture combining teal and peach symbolises the merging of the psychology and wellness practices.

On the ground floor, venetian plaster walls are a subdued backdrop for the teals and greens and the striking Cipollino Ondulato Rosso stone in the reception counter, bathroom vanities and kitchen. In the first-floor spaces, the terrazzo floor, stone counter and venetian plaster walls are all in peach and salmon tones. On the second floor, softer tones are paired with a terrazzo floor and we used the Palladiana terrazzo mosaic technique in the studios to subtly emphasise and reflect the movement and flow that takes places there.

The colours on each level complement each other and make the space feel like it was conceived as one, which is something that’s really important to us when we design.

Which of the features are custom designed?

The custom banquette on the ground-floor reception follows the curves of the room, the walls and flow of the reception desks, and the same banquette design is echoed in the Pilates studio.

The irregular, curvaceous reception desks on the ground and first floors were custom designed to evoke the movement and flow of the mind and body — we wanted to push the craft of these island desks as statement pieces.

Images / Timothy Kaye