Brooklyn-based Frederick Tang Architects has rearranged and redesigned a top-floor studio to become a space that can accommodate a reception area, six treatment rooms, offices, bathrooms, an herbal pharmacy and a pantry. Moxi Wellness Studio, a wellness studio and acupuncture center in Soho, New York, took the skylight of the 1901 commercial building as its starting point and renovated the rectangular space by rearranging the interior around a large oval skylight.

Architecturally, Frederick Tang wanted to organize many different components in a plan that felt logical and complete, but this was difficult within space constraints. Because of the need to create a new solution in its dense urban environment to increase the floor area while introducing natural light, the studio organized its design around natural light from the beginning.

Visitors enter the wellness studio to a reception area surrounded by four arched Windows overlooking Broadway. Here, a bespoke bench made of white oak slats and copper runs along two walls, while sculptural chandeliers hang from the ceiling. To maximize the use of space and make the most of natural light, the area serves as both a meeting place and a place for classes.

FTA reconfigured Moxi's rooms as well as softened corners and created arches that echo some of the existing architecture of the space for the client who wanted the interior to feel "holistic, natural, calm and inspiring". A single corridor leads to all six treatment rooms, which were also coloured in shades of green. The walls were lime-washed in a soft cypress green, with wainscotting wooden panels painted in a darker shade of the same hue. FTA wanted the colour to contrast traditional wellness studios which are often white and feel more clinical.

"The predominant colour was green –lime washed in a cypress and deep forest – chosen for its property to heal, critical at the front where the patron first experiences the space," said the architects. The treatment rooms, which are the most intimate sections in the studio, contain two bedrooms and a bathroom arranged around the lightwell.The green was offset by hints of pale peach throughout the interior and natural finishes including terrazzo, concrete, boucle and ribbed glass add depth and texture.