Plans have been revealed for a five-star Maldivian spa island designed by Yuji Yamazaki – the architect behind the world’s first underwater villa.

The development is scheduled to open in September 2020.

Located in the Maldives’ North Male Atoll, Kagi Maldives Spa Island will feature Baani Spa Wellness Centre, a 1,500sq m purpose-built spa designed to provide personalised outcome-focused wellness experiences which help guests ‘release, restore and regain’.

The spa takes its inspiration from the ocean, with its name ‘Baani’, translating to ‘The Ocean Swell’ in the Maldivian Dhivehi language.

The overwater spa will sit at the heart of the resort, complete with an open-air, teardrop-shaped sky roof, and will be managed by Duniye Spa, a management and consultancy company in The Maldives and Indian Ocean region.

Duniye Spa’s group spa director, Renate Hermes told Spa Business: “The Wellness Centre at Kagi is a space uniquely designed to inspire calm, balance, and stability in the turbulent ocean of life.”

Baani Spa Wellness Centre will feature four treatment rooms with outdoor bathing facilities, steamrooms, a yoga and sound-healing studio, relaxation lounge, beauty salon and spa wellness boutique.

Offerings will include traditional spa treatments such as facials, wraps, massages and mud therapy, along with wellness sabbaticals, reiki, crystal and sound-healing, and nutritional and health coaching.

A partnership has been struck with product house EpicurenDiscovery to provide an exclusive range of anti-ageing for the Baani Spa, to be used across facial beauty and massage treatments.

Kagi resort is owned by Kagi Developments and will be operated by Crown and Champa Resorts. The 50-villa property will also feature a gym, two restaurants, three bars, a dive centre and house reef.

As of October 2020, the resort will offer a three-day Signature Wellness Sabbatical costing US$275 (£222, €248) per person.

The retreat includes two group yoga sessions, two group sound baths, two stress-reliever massages, two evening relaxation, wave meditation and mindfulness practice sessions, two discussion forums with the expert team and a daily detox superfood smoothie.