Specializing in whole-body wellness, Sparkling Hill Resort and Wellness Hotel is a luxurious European-inspired hotel perched high on a cliff above Okanagan Lake — an area recognized for its majestic mountains, refreshing waters, lush vineyards, world-class golf and skiing, and one of Canada’s warmest climates. Chiseled from granite bedrock, the 240,000 sf wellness hotel is built in a fluid style that respects and integrates with the natural landscape.

The 150 guest rooms challenge conventional expectations, with floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing panoramic mountaintop views and unique bathing fixtures that extend the spa experience. Swarovski crystals and lighting systems are integrated into the hotel’s fixtures, finishes, lighting, and overall architecture, including a spectacular window wall in the hotel lobby. Efficient water and energy use and sustainable construction, indoor environment, and materials criteria were fundamental goals; the hotel sits on a geo-exchange field that provides approximately 110% of required heating and cooling energy.

The crown jewel of the hotel is the 20,000 sf wellness spa, laid out as an internal “street” lined with treatment areas along its east side. Reception spaces reflect the sensory qualities of the treatments occurring within, with sub-corridors stretching deeper into the building toward individual treatment chambers and cubicles and providing glimpses to the natural landscape at their ends. In some rooms, crystalline windows fill “fractures” in the dense outer wall, bathing interiors with natural light; other chambers are tightly controlled environments evoking sensations of being deep in the native rock of the mountain.