Crafting Your Custom Hydrothermal Journey
FROM HOT TO COLD AND EVERYTHING INBETWEEN
Whether you are working on creating a hydrothermal circuit for a commercial venue or a private residence, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the diverse range of thermal cabins and hydrotherapy pools that DFL is expert in creating. Here, we showcase popular hot/cold contrast therapy experiences, rest and recovery spaces, all providing the proven benefits of communal/social wellness.
HEAT THERAPY (HOT & DRY)
Saunas
Our custom commercial and residential saunas are known for their luxurious design and custom details, including curved benches, under-bench heaters, specialty lighting, and sound systems. Beyond different styles, there are also different types of saunas, including Finnish Saunas, Hybrid Saunas with Infrared Therapy, Soft Saunas and Event Saunas. Scroll to review the distinct features of each sauna type.
DFL is the exclusive sales and installation partner for KLAFS custom commercial hospitality products in the USA and the Caribbean. DFL also provides KLAFS custom saunas for the residential market in the USA. Learn more on our Residential KLAFS Saunas page.
HEAT THERAPY (HOT & HUMID)
Steam Rooms
DFL’s custom steam rooms are designed with the utmost care, ensuring that they won’t disappoint with anemic steam output or a drip, drip, drip from the ceiling. All our thermal rooms stand out for their luxurious, custom-designed details. Steam rooms are typically tiled or stone and reach temperatures between 42°C and 48°C (110°F to 118°F) with 100% humidity. Aromatic essential oils can be added to create a multisensory experience.
HEAT THERAPY (WARM & HUMID)
Hamams/Hammams
DFL has created award-winning hamams, including this one at Miami’s Faena Hotel. A traditional hamam, whether Turkish or Moroccan in style, is considered a place for cleansing. These steamy rooms will often include a heated “belly stone” as a centerpiece, where attendants scrub and clean bathers. This can also take place in private, smaller hamam treatment rooms.
In a communal hamam, basins (called kurnas) are available for washing and rinsing and there will be plenty of bench space for bathers to await treatments or to simply relax and socialize.
RELAX
Relaxation Spaces
Relaxation spaces are a vital component of any hydrothermal build, yet they are often overlooked. DFL’s hydrothermal expertise ensures that all bathers will have the opportunity to relax between hot/cold cycles, completing this crucial stage in the bathing journey. Relaxation spaces are welcomed by bathers for both warming up the body prior to entering the high heat of a sauna or steam room and for cooling down the body after a hot cycle.
Photo courtesy of our partner KLAFS.
COLD THERAPY (COOL DOWNS)
Rain & Drench
Experiences
Rain & Drench Experiences (also known as “experience showers”) can serve as convenient alternatives to other cool down areas while also serving a very important hygienic function of cleansing off the body between sweat experiences. These features should be peppered throughout a hydrothermal spa area, and can offer a multisensory experience that combines water, sound and scent or evoke a feeling of cold shock in the form of a bucket or deluge shower.
COLD THERAPY
Cold Plunge
Cold plunge pools and stand-alone ice baths are among today’s most requested features. Chilled to very low temperatures, a cold plunge pool enables full-body cold water immersion to help with recovery, stimulate the nervous system, enhance circulation, and provide a therapeutic contrast to heat treatments.
Photo courtesy of our partner KLAFS.
COLD THERAPY
Cold Rooms
A cold room offers a refreshing counterpoint to heat therapies. Typically maintained at temperatures just above freezing, these rooms can be empty or house a plunge pool, ice bath or snow shower. The purpose of this space is to stimulate circulation and provide a full thermal contrast experience.
Photo courtesy of our partner KLAFS.
COLD THERAPY
Snow Showers
The sensation of melting snow on the skin is another alternative for bathers looking to cool down after a hot cycle. Snow showers are either open or closed areas where a continuous snowfall can be generated by pushing a button. The benefit of modern snowfall technology is that snow can be produced regardless of a room’s ambient temperature; freezing temperatures are not required.
Photo courtesy of our partner TechnoAlpin.
COLD THERAPY
Snow Rooms
The snow room is a modern alternative and is considered a gentler option to the “shock” that comes from plunging into icy waters after a hot sauna or steam room. Advances in refrigeration technology mean that it’s now possible to replicate the traditional “roll in the snow” in any hydrothermal facility. Snow rooms offer another benefit: snow simply makes people happy, bringing out their playful, inner child.
Photo courtesy of our partner TechnoAlpin.
HYDROTHERAPY
Specialty Pools
DFL’s dedicated aquatic engineering specialists focus on bringing water wellness into the hydrothermal design and build, whether via a hydrotherapy pool, cold plunge or a pool operating as a traditional Japanese onsen. Noteworthy pools by DFL include the largest hydrotherapy pool in the US at the WinStar Spa in Oklahoma, which opened in 2023.
SPECIALTY TREATMENTS
Infrared Therapy
Targeted longwave infrared-C radiation therapy is valued for its unique ability to penetrate deep into the body’s tissue, providing muscle relaxation, stimulating blood flow and reducing inflammation. While infrared therapy is often offered within a sauna-like room, this is not a requirement. Instead, infrared treatments can be effectively administered through free-standing, comfortable loungers, backrests and benches. This can be preferable to sitting in the confines of the sauna for the 30-40 minutes of exposure that is needed to deliver the benefits of infrared heat.
Photo courtesy of our partner KLAFS.
SPECIALTY TREATMENTS
Halotherapy/Salt Treatments
Salt therapy has grown steadily in popularity in recent years and, thanks to its efficacy, continues to be a mainstay in modern spas. DFL works with halotherapy providers to create the ideal atmosphere for this passive treatment which is achieved through inhaling finely powdered salt that is released into the air via a salt aerosol device or as a saline solution from a nebulizing brine vapor.
Photo courtesy of our partner ISO Benessere.
A Must Have Resource
The Guide to Hydrothermal Spa & Wellness Development Standards, Fourth Edition
Produced by the Global Wellness Institute's Hydrothermal Initiative, the book provides design and building guidelines for hydrothermal areas. Our CEO, Don Genders, acts as the Initiative Chair, leading a committee of global experts to promote the Hydrothermal Industry. Design for Leisure provided our expertise for the guide's content and sponsored the production.
Contact us for a hard copy or download a digital copy.
