Vancouver design studio Circle Wellness have created the WelPod, reportedly the world's first 'multisensory therapeutic smart room'.
Geared for the home wellness market, the WelPod is a sauna-like, 100 sq ft (9.3 sq m) outbuilding facility that heats itself and maintains an elevated temperature due to its naturally insulative salt brick walls.
According to the design team, this aspect of the pre-fabricated room also has antifungal and antibacterial qualities, helping to "clean the air, relieve skin problems, cleanse the respiratory system, and emit negative ions to elevate one’s mood".
The WelPod also has a user-friendly interface that allows bathers to program the device's ambient ventilation, lighting, and music.
These controls also give users the ability to explore the experience of sensory deprivation – long-regarded as a mechanism for inducing transcendental and meditative states.
"It's truly a unique experience that is similar to floating, but here you have gravity and more space," the company said in a statement.
The new wellness appliance is the brainchild of Circle Wellness founder Paul Hennessey, who indicated that he wants to re-think the "ways wellness spaces are built".
"My designs," said Hennessey, "are inspired by some of the most incredible spas and locations around the world – mostly Korea, Japan, and Europe."
