Living a Life in Balance - PODCAST

WINNER of the ICONIC Interior Design Award 2025: The Balance Sets the Standard in Healing Spaces

• Abdullah Boulad

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The Balance RehabClinic in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, has been named Winner in the Interior – Healthcare category at the ICONIC Award 2025. In this episode, anySCALE founders Karin Hepp and Andreas Thomczyk share the vision behind the clinic’s design—how architecture, flow, and holistic principles came together to create a healing environment. From privacy and sensory design to natural light and garden spaces, they reveal how thoughtful design can support mental health and redefine healthcare.

🔗 Tune in for an inspiring conversation on creating spaces that ground us, restore balance, and transform the way we live.

About anySCALE

anySCALE is an international architecture and design firm with a diverse portfolio of projects that showcase innovation, sustainability, and a strong design ethos. With passionate and resilient teams based in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Mallorca, and Singapore, anySCALE continues to push boundaries in creating spaces that inspire and endure.

For further mental health information and support, visit The Balance RehabClinic website: https://balancerehabclinic.com/ 

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Abdullah Boulad 00:00:00  Welcome to the Living a Life and Balance podcast. My name is Abdullah Bullard. I'm the founder and CEO of the Balanced Rehab Clinic. This episode is going to be a little different from our usual recordings, as we have some major news to share. The Balance Hub in Mallorca has just been awarded the prestigious Iconic Award for Interior Architecture in Healthcare, an international recognition that celebrates visionary design, innovation and excellence in spatial experience. To mark this occasion, I've invited the brilliant architects and designers behind the project, current husband Andrés Tomczyk, to take us behind the scenes of how this award winning space came to life. We explore how we transformed an old law firm into a space that feels both calming and safe for our clients, while also supporting the day to day rhythm of our clinical and operational team. We discussed the role of environment in mental health, why safety begins in a space, and how elements like color, lighting and feng shui can create true balance in a space. We also dive into sustainability, timeless design, and what modern luxury really means, as well as what this award represents for all of us at the balance.

Abdullah Boulad 00:01:32  I hope you will enjoy. Karin and Andreas, welcome. I'm very excited today to to have you here because we're talking about something I, I saw always as the foundation of of the balance. And we will also talk about the the exciting work we have been doing together which led to an. Very exciting architecture award, which is the iconic award we will talk later about. you are you are a couple, but you are both also architects and you work together. how how do you manage that in the first place?

Karin Hepp 00:02:19  That's a question we will we we approach many times. for us, it's very for us, it's very natural to work together, actually, if he's not around, for example, the last two weeks and he was in Shanghai, there's a part missing. So, we managed the family together. We managed the office together. And, Yeah, it's it's part of our daily life. Daily routine. Really. I really enjoy it. To share all the time.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:02:54  Yeah, same.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:02:55  Same for me. I would say we we have started everything together and that's probably why Karen said, we, we feel everything very natural. And I think, our, each one's character we bring in to our work is different but complementing each other. So I would say very well and not necessarily working on the same project at the same time. But sometimes, like in the balance, we were together in a very early stage. So all the starting point when you first approached us, we we did together, and then later on, Karen with one of our colleagues, she she more executed the project through in terms of design. Yeah. But always exchanging.

Karin Hepp 00:03:46  Yeah. It's sometimes it's actually even more than exchanging I would say we coach each other constantly. So it's always when we are facing. Challenges or questions. Then we start to discuss about the topic.

Abdullah Boulad 00:04:01  Yeah it's fascinating. So you can you can differentiate or you split the work at the office or on the business side. But how how can you manage being office and at home.

Abdullah Boulad 00:04:17  Because would you not just talk all the time at home about about work?

Karin Hepp 00:04:23  It's your work. We we sometimes do so, but not so much about what is actually happening in the office. More about architecture trends, things we are interested in. So our children probably would say we talk a lot about architecture all the time, but not the office business. So we somehow we are used to have the office in the office and then at home to to be more relaxed and have a different focus. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:04:54  Talking about that attack that comes definitely from from your passion to architecture and your, your your work. You do. tell us a little bit about what what was your motivation to, to do what you do today and how it led to, to your current state with multiple offices across Asia, China and and Europe?

Andreas Thomczyk 00:05:17  Well, I was I started very quick, very early. I was 15 and I had my best friend. His father was an architect while my father was a businessman. And I was so fascinated about the different, way how my friend, perceived his father.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:05:35  Right. Because he was basically sitting in another floor in the same house and having this office full of books, and the smell was so good. It was smell like all the wooden tables and this big machine at that time where the draft drawing machines and I found this. So the, the, the smell, the fact that the father was always there, and the house where my father was always in the office and outside came back late. So I'd rather see him. So this different role of, creative person, or this different life daily, or the life Circle. This is just a different way of, of of spending your time. I was fascinated, and that was the starting point. I said, okay, I want to have the same job that that's what I'm looking for. That's the starting point. But.

Karin Hepp 00:06:25  yeah, my my background is different. My parents, they have a company in construction. So my dad, he took me from a very early stage. I always was on construction side.

Karin Hepp 00:06:37  So sometimes I helped him to take measures. And then I was fascinated by these houses. What? It's just the raw structure. What does it become then? Later. How does it look later? So in the beginning of the project, I went with him and then at the end of the project. So how it is finished and also the happiness of the people when they move in. So I was fascinated by this during my whole childhood. And then when it came to decide what to study, I was always in between medicine and architecture. I was very much interested actually in medicine as well. But then my teachers, they said I should study architecture because of my drawing, my math skills. And so I followed that. That's how I became an architect.

Abdullah Boulad 00:07:24  An architect with affinity for more. How someone also lives in a in a space and not just creating spaces.

Karin Hepp 00:07:31  Yeah, for me, the most important thing is actually the transformation of a space into a kind of upgraded space, which gives actually more comfort, which gives more beauty.

Karin Hepp 00:07:45  And that can be in a very big scale, right, in an urban scale, but also in a very small scale. So that's basically always the the intention or vision behind for me. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:07:57  Tell us a little bit about the projects you, you have done. and also multicultural spaces particularly.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:08:06  Yeah. And so I mean, when Karen, Karen was still studying when we met and I was teaching at a university and in Vienna, and we both, had a period where we both worked for different offices in Vienna. The typical process when you are young and finished your studies. And then Karen got the opportunity to go to China for a Swiss architecture firm. And at that time, I was at that point where I didn't dare yet to open my own practice, and I was not 100% sure to. We should go. So we said, okay, let's go both to China and work for this Austrian Swiss firm for a year and see what happened. And then, we did this. that was 2005, and we did this for two years.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:08:58  and when the basic the mission was completed, we we decided not to go back in this case to Sakhalin because we got an offer to go to Saint Gallen, Switzerland, which you don't know, but they probably interesting for you.

Abdullah Boulad 00:09:11  Studying.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:09:11  There exactly. Would have been like, we, I would call it always the sore closed package. Right. So worry free package was, well paid. But at that time it was too exciting in China. So we decided, okay, let's stay.

Karin Hepp 00:09:26  Yeah. 2005 was before the Olympic Summer games. Yes. And there was a lot going on in terms of architecture. All international architectural firms had big offices doing buildings. There was really it was like, yeah, it was just an amazing face. And we said it's it would be a pity if he would go now, because something like this we cannot experience anymore. and then we decided to stay and we did actually drop applications. But during that period of time, a British guy, he, he approached us and said, I have office space and I need help.

Karin Hepp 00:10:07  I'm somehow lost with the designs I have. Can you help me with this? And then we started to do his project, and this is how we started to work, basically first on a freelance base in China. And then later we founded our first company there. And that was basically our starting point to do mainly interior design, corporate interior design, also a little bit of architecture. But architecture in China is huge. So we did a small project like a school building. I mean, for Europe it's not small, but for, for China it is small. And then we started first off with our Beijing office and then with the Shanghai office. Hong Kong office. And finally we came to my accord through through the Covid period. Yeah.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:10:55  Yeah, that was exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:10:57  Why? Myakka.

Karin Hepp 00:10:59  Well, that's actually a personal, decision we made because we have we have together all the three children. They're all born in China, and we realized that we need to have a kind of family hub in Europe.

Karin Hepp 00:11:14  Yeah. we were looking on. Should we do something in Germany or in Austria? All the spaces we were looking at, our children never really felt comfortable. And then we were on a holiday here, and we realized they feel totally comfortable here. Because you have a very international environment. There are people from everywhere, from the world here on the island. That's very similar to to our experience in Beijing. And then we said, okay, maybe it's a good decision to to have here a property and to say, okay, we have kind of second home here in Mallorca.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:11:53  And then Covid made it over.

Karin Hepp 00:11:55  And then through Covid it made it very quickly our permanent home. So in the beginning we thought we will have a couple of years going forward and back, maybe spending the holidays here. But through this lockdown and not being able to travel, we moved to family completely here. And after one year or one and a half year, we also started to have projects here on the island. Yeah, yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:12:19  The next office has come to life.

Karin Hepp 00:12:21  Yeah, exactly.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:12:22  Yeah, yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:12:23  And what what about the project you have been doing, you know, for what type of companies or what type of projects have you? Have you?

Andreas Thomczyk 00:12:33  yeah. So in China, when we started, we completely focused on the corporate level. So we had, especially the European industry, German automotive industry. They were so happy to have someone speaking German to them. But knowing that I fully understand the Chinese culture, not cheating on them. So the typical thing of cultural trust, mutual understanding what they need. So we were a lot working in the corporate field. not because we don't like the working for the private sector, but it was a bit contradiction because the private is very much the private clients, very much having time Saturday, Sunday. Right. And it's a completely different kind of style or process. While the corporate is very strict Monday to Friday. And so we had this feeling let's focus on the corporate world.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:13:27  There was also a lot to do. I mean, that's clear and only for very particular clients, which became friends. We said, okay, if you want, we do also your private house, your apartment. So it became something and these were mainly sea level people, luxury homes and it was more like a side business, but we didn't officially announce it at that time. While when we came to Mallorca it was clear, if we want to make business here, then it's the opposite, right? Mallorca is obviously not. The main focus is on corporate. The main focus is on private home. Apartment or houses doesn't matter too much, but it's all about living and which, to be honest, I think Karen quite happy about it and most of our staff is very happy about it because they really like it. It's more close to them to design for the privacy. I'm still a very corporate person. I love this, regular processes, but yeah.

Karin Hepp 00:14:30  Yeah, in China basically was also on me doing all these residential projects.

Karin Hepp 00:14:36  So I did this, designs there also, I would say it was residential. We also did a hotel very, prestigious, very old building, 400 year old building with refurbishment, and also a school, for example. So all these kinds of projects were basically more the field I was working in. Well, and it was more focusing on the corporate world, automotive world, coworking spaces, offices, showrooms. yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:15:12  It's quite, quite a diverse activity. I've been doing, no multi-regional multi branches, industries and so on. And then we met when you, when you were in Mallorca, because our children go together.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:15:29  To the same.

Abdullah Boulad 00:15:30  School. To the same school.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:15:31  Exactly.

Abdullah Boulad 00:15:32  Yeah. And and then I, I, I found out what, what, what you do and so some of your projects, and I was at the same time looking for for a new space. I didn't know how to call it. Is it an office? Is it a therapeutic space? Is it an, hub for for treatment and.

Abdullah Boulad 00:15:59  but we figured it out together. eventually. And it turned out very, very, very nice. maybe I can give here some some thoughts. What what my motivation was. I always, I always looked at the, the the balance as, someone pioneer in the field of providing therapeutic environments. Not necessarily luxury, functional luxury, but a space where someone can feel comfortable for both clients and employees. Because we care about our employees as much as we care about the clients, and they affect each other both ways. so I found, I found that space in Palma at Paseo Maritimo, which is the first sea line in, in in Palma de Mallorca. overlooking the bay, as far as, you know, the harbor. And, the idea was to transform this space into something where a client can come in and feel like a sense of release, a sense of comfort, a sense of, where they can feel calm and, and, and open up also to, to a therapeutic process, whether their families or their themselves.

Abdullah Boulad 00:17:36  But at the same time, it was also, for me important to to have a space for. For my employees to feel comfortable. To collaborate in a certain way. To. But to use the space. Multifunctional as well. I didn't want it. It to be just for that or just for that. So it should be flexible used at the same time. So this was my initial understanding and I think that's, that's how I approach to, to, to start the conversation. How how was your understanding at that time.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:18:16  As first of all, I like to say very often, you met you meet clients like you just described. Right? It's certainly we do pictures officially, and this is one part. But very often if you do this kind of very specific project and your project is quite specific, then it's is whether you have met accidentally or on the on the way, but differently, right? Not via a let's say, corporate process. And I think this is a because then the common sense you can feel quicker, right? You say, okay, this person is really interesting.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:18:56  and that that was the case with you, right? your story was interesting. You didn't know 100% what it should be as you just described. Should it be in office or should probably take practice or both should be both. And we were certainly interested by, working on such a task. And I remember also the first sketch, the layout sketch you gave us. I remember this very well because for us, layout is the key. We are very value the importance of a layout. often people say, there's no difference. The most important is decoration, but it's the other way around. The layout really set the the starting point of every project, and your sketch was nice and simple. I have also to say the space was already, how can I say in a good shape, right? It was outdated, certainly 30 years old practice, but starting point was also good from you. You selected an interesting space, right? Plus your sketch. And that was attracting us, I think, in your personality.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:20:00  Certainly.

Karin Hepp 00:20:02  Yeah. what I found interesting in the beginning of the project is okay, I had the feeling, actually, we have two clients, so we have you representing the balance, and then we have your customer, which is. Which we don't know. Right. But the people actually, who finally will go into this space and will have their own kind of experience and hopefully positive transformation towards healing. So my focus when we started to design, basically was always this person, this imaginative person, like thinking, if I would come into this space, what would I need? What, what, what, what kind of feeling do I have if I see this kind of environment? Is it good for me to walk in this way or walk in the other way? And when I start to meet staff, where do they come from? How do they approach me? Is it nice the way they approach me? So it's it all these kind of elements? Sorry. They really, made basically our layout very special because we created this flow.

Karin Hepp 00:21:13  When you come into the space facing basically the, the logo wall, but at the same time having beautiful, nice natural materials and then turning into the space and opening up to this view towards the harbour. that was something I had very early in mind all the time. and then we had a lot of discussion of this overlaying the practice area and therapeutic rooms with the zone where we actually have the office and also where, where we have the back kitchen, which is at the same time a pantry, but also should be suitable for a chef. So how to balance all these kind of rooms out with each other and create sometimes openness and getting light into the space, but at the same time also be able to maybe create privacy or block it off. yeah. This was always kind of big discussions for and back between us.

Abdullah Boulad 00:22:16  Yeah, this is what I loved about the process that you, you you understood you you try to understand, to put yourself in not just our shoe, but in multiple shoes and, and create this common, common solution.

Abdullah Boulad 00:22:31  And not just because I've seen that in the past. Some architectures, they want to push their ideas and they're their solution. where at the end we had to stop because it didn't work out. but that's what I felt here in this process, that you you understood us. You you made the, you you understood the different stakeholders in in that project. and I felt certainly the layout was given, but we were also changing the layout together based on the functionality. even acoustic and smell and the light. And there were so many elements to be considered here. And also the furniture. It's not just space, okay? These are rooms. And this is a desk. Even each room was was presented in a way Could be a working space, but it also could be a therapeutic space. Yeah. True. And and what I also loved is that the idea you came up with is how to create a custom fit furniture, like a table which fits into the room in a single room.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:23:52  Right?

Abdullah Boulad 00:23:52  The triangle.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:23:53  Room where.

Abdullah Boulad 00:23:55  Where employees can just come in and work freely. So there is no fixed space for, for, for, for the employees. But they can just come in and, and work wherever they feel at that moment, comfortable. They want to be together, collaborative, or they want to be alone, for a call or for whatever they need is. So that's so it was not just, okay, how do I do the architecture and the, the, the services. It's also thought through different procedures and processes, which eventually could happen.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:24:35  Yeah. Yeah.

Karin Hepp 00:24:36  Well, especially I think for the office area, we we were really focusing let's say this, this was influenced also by our designs we did for co-working spaces, because in co-working spaces you want to collaborate to a certain time, but then you also need privacy, maybe to think through a process or doing financial topics. So then you certainly need to have higher privacy. And we put this, central table, which actually when you come into the space, it looks more like a meeting room table.

Karin Hepp 00:25:15  So you don't have to feel like this is the actual work table, but, it also brings them together, the team. Right. If somebody starts to work, then the next one is sitting opposite. Even if they don't talk after a while, maybe they start to communicate, to share. that was also a focus from from our side.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:25:34  It can be for one, two, three, four, five person. Right. It's relatively open. Cannot really 100% say is it. Yeah. Because small. And that's also good for growing team right. If someone working alone on the table maybe they feel okay. But if three working on the same table that's also okay. And that's also.

Abdullah Boulad 00:25:53  Important. Or even more, I.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:25:54  Mean, or more.

Abdullah Boulad 00:25:55  Yeah, sometimes they have been just adding chairs and because it felt right to be together and discuss something or or just work in silence. It's it's both both is, has been has been positive. Yeah, yeah. what I mean, can I say techniques or what type of philosophy do you follow when you create space like that? Is there any specific, Asian or any other way you you you consider.

Karin Hepp 00:26:33  Well, for us the most important, like any side is the flow. So when we create a space really the arrangement of rooms, how you enter, which decision you take by walking through the space and this kind of flow is you can also say it's based on feng shui. So it's a kind of, Asian philosophy, how to organize spaces, to basically put the individual person in a room which creates happiness healthiness for these people. And, with this kind of philosophy, you try to have create balance, yin yang. Right? You try to create life g within a space and, It. Basically, it's a holistic approach. So it's the flow by itself. It's the materials you use, the surfaces like you mentioned before, the smell, maybe the sound.

Abdullah Boulad 00:27:37  Right.

Karin Hepp 00:27:38  You have a good acoustic or sometimes even music. yeah. So it's basically a whole experience. And when this whole experience comes together in a very positive way, it creates a kind of unique, comfort. Right. something you feel east, you feel released, happy.

Karin Hepp 00:28:01  You maybe can focus then on different topics not being bothered by the space anymore.

Abdullah Boulad 00:28:07  By the environment. Yeah, yeah. Now, while you were explaining, you know, I was thinking about our process, how we were choosing the, the the, the textures, the material, the floor. We wanted to have this transparency to, to see to, to the harbor, through glass. But at the same time, our concern was like the acoustic, how to how to balance this out so, so material choosing material what floor and curtains and and the wallpapers and what's the functionality of the wallpapers? Not just optical but also the acoustic side. I think that was an important step.

Karin Hepp 00:28:47  For example, we choose this, balloon carpet, right? It's this woven PVC. It's a kind of recycled material, but it's also it's a kind of carpet. So it's silent when you walk on it. Right? So it's not a hard stone floor where you hear the steps. So it's a silent surface, but at the same time it's also high hygienic.

Karin Hepp 00:29:11  Right. that was one point. And then we tried to really have a lot of very natural materials. For example, we have bamboo woven wallpapers. Here's some rattan wallpapers then. Very nice linen fabrics as curtains. So very, very natural materials to accomplish this kind of comfortable environment. And then I remember always we were always discussing about the green wall. Right? Yes. If it should become green or not, I was very sure it has to be green. You always brought it up again. And then we decided that each of these discussions. Yeah, maybe green is good, but it was questioning a lot of times. And finally we did it in green. And I'm so happy that it came out so well.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:30:03  Well, we had this discussion also internally, we were not 100% sure if the green is really right, but Karen was sure about it. And there's you won't find any black in this office, right. Or in this practice. And this is something we very seldom use black.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:30:20  So this is if you you mentioned before, we have a lot of different type of projects made realized throughout the years, but there is a kind of common sense we don't like, like too much. because it's so hard, right? So talking about yin yang, you need to balance it with white. And then a project very easily become very cold at the end because it's all very metropolitan. Well, here we are on the island. We are in the Mediterranean. You anyway need to be a bit. The light is different. You need to be more soft and balanced and. But then when Karen brought in the the olive or sage kind of green, we were all in the office. We our team were not. One wasn't sure about it, but again, I'm also I think it refracted it.

Abdullah Boulad 00:31:07  It reflected the local style of Mallorca. What you what you see also in nature. I remember we had this conversation that we want to feel local as well. And with the local influence of what you see and the surrounding, the blue, the green, the brown, and all the in-between colors.

Abdullah Boulad 00:31:27  So it fitted at the end very well.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:31:28  Yeah. Correct. Yeah.

Karin Hepp 00:31:30  Also, for example, in the pantry we finally found this blue lamps. Right. This. when I saw them in the shop in the beginning, I was not sure is this good, but I have to say, in this space, it it really gives a very nice color accent to, to the space.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:31:47  I want to add one more thing, about, you ask about the strategy. it is several steps. First of all, you selected, a good space, right? You had your sketch store layout sketch, and then we work with it. But what is really interesting in this particular project is the space is very centered. okay. You have the detour when you enter with a logo wall, ghost ghost wall, however you call it to keep the energy in the space. But the interesting part is the center room and then all the rooms having even though the so-called back office or the the pantry for the stuff.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:32:25  Right. They have all this direct connection to the center. And I think this is one of the reasons, why probably your, your customers also feel, well, immediately when they arrive and they sit on the sofa in the waiting area. Right. Because it's it's so centered. Right. So the energy, the tea doesn't flow away. It remains. And I think this is probably create this sense of ease, among your staff. But I'm also among your customers. And.

Abdullah Boulad 00:32:57  Yeah, it does. Okay. I can confirm that.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:33:00  Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:33:01  Maybe we can talk also about the importance of mental health and when creating space because you started, you feel centered. But from your experience, what type of influence has an environment, a working or a living space in general on on our mental health.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:33:21  We are not doctors, right? But I guess, and also from my own experience. Our children experience when you bring them to the doctor. Right. it has often something to do with fears or worries.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:33:33  Right? So when you go to a treatment, you know, okay, I need this treatment, but waiting for your appointment. Waiting for the doctor. Waiting for the results. This is all related to for sure. Worry very often to fear depending on the situation. So how so? And so now coming in us as a designer. Interior designer. Now how can we create the best possible environment to lower this to a minimum? Right. There's other certainly the doctor has to have the right kind of speech to the patients. But and as I said, I think, a space needs to be somehow modest, right. Needs to be humble. It needs to not create surprises. Maybe surprises you need in retail, right? But you don't need it in these kind of designing for health, you need to be ideally, keep the energy in the room. I'd be centered. Don't create maybe a low, low contrast. I would say talking about materials. We talked about colors. But in general, if you create a high contrast, it's more nervous, right? The colors or the different dark and, bright tones fighting with each other.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:34:46  So if you make this all turn down and more mellow that automatically you create more ease. Why are the interior design? I think that's something how I would see it.

Karin Hepp 00:34:57  Yeah. When we design these talk rooms right for each of the patients. And we also have a family talk room. I think one of the very important things is how private can you get within the space. So for example, that's also a big discussion we had. It's open to the center space. So when you come in. You feel released because it's an open space where you also can see outside. You can see the sea you have, you can get the light in. But then when you when it really comes to your personal talk about yourself, about your problems in that moment, actually you would like to have maximum privacy. And so we we, for example, integrated the curtain to be able to close off the space at that time and also to have a very nice wallpaper, very comfortable chair to sit on. Two options actually.

Karin Hepp 00:36:00  The patient could sit on the sofa or you could sit on the lounge chair. So this kind of, creating a very small and private space suddenly where you can have a talk with only with your doctor and Into yourself and and your most close persons. Right? And in this room we only have very tuned colors. Beige tones. Very light green tone. yeah. And also a good acoustic on the ceiling and on the floor.

Abdullah Boulad 00:36:35  absolutely. And then I also it reflects completely what our philosophy is. a client needs to feel safe in the first place. And privacy is key for that. Not not just the public privacy, but also in a, in a small space where he sits and where he can open up. I mean, you couldn't just sit on a terrace and talk. You you wouldn't feel, contained and and safe enough to do so. I remember also just this discussion went through even what type of painting do we take and what type of colors. And they shouldn't. Or also the light.

Abdullah Boulad 00:37:20  And because they shouldn't be creating any type of emotions, because we work with sometimes highly traumatized patients and they need they need to feel, calm and cared about. And the space shouldn't add or be a stressful factor here. So. So this combination of colors, textures, painting all comes together to, to feel that safety because at the end it works on the nervous system. And this is something passive. it's not something we realize, oh no, I like this painting or I don't like that. You can say that. But it's also is the air conditioning running? Is it loud? Is it, is it is it noisy or not? If we are exposed to a noise all the time, for hours or weeks or years. It affects our nervous system. So we discussed that. We looked into that. The noise was very important. The details are very important. So they can be subtitled and not creating too much, uplifting unwanted emotions.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:38:31  It also needs the client to, to be ready for that because very often the client might have the understanding, okay, we need to have good acoustics.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:38:42  Let's take the acoustic as an example, but then say, it doesn't matter too much. Let's save the money here. Right? Sometimes things which cannot be seen. Yeah. Money gets easily safe, right? or for a rock y, you have another rock on top, or you have already a floor. You don't need the rock, right? But it's. The truth is different. The truth is the rock gives us now the three of us here, where we're sitting, for instance, give us creates kind our room, our room for this interview. In the same time, it's a soft material. And help us to, buffer our our our voices. Right. so there's a lot of small things where you can easily say, okay, I don't do it, I don't need it. But in fact, if you have it, it's you reach a much higher level of comfort.

Abdullah Boulad 00:39:31  And you can feel it sometimes, but many people can maybe not name it, but you feel.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:39:36  It.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:39:36  You feel it later. That's the ideal, right? And then you know it. If you can trust the architect or you know already before, that's even better. Yeah, sure.

Karin Hepp 00:39:48  Maybe to add to what I said before is in this treatment room, right when you have the treatment, I remember we had a discussion that the client actually might stay actually long time in the space, maybe half day or one day. So it's actually several sessions of talks sometimes not. Not every time. so very important for us was also how to design this space where we have a break in between, maybe. And as we are in Mallorca, we also have the terrace outside. It's a beautiful outside space with the palm trees. But yeah, for example, for me it was very important to have fresher colors, still earthy tones, but more into orange, more into kind of red fabric. So the interior is all very calm and quiet. This is very refreshing. Maybe you after a talk of one hour, maybe it was very exhausting.

Karin Hepp 00:40:49  You go outside, you have fresh air, you get the light. Maybe you drink something, maybe you eat something and and you have a totally different kind of colored environment suddenly around you. We also with the creamy stones on the facade. Yeah. And the blue sky. The water? Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:41:09  Yeah. Other colors. Other impressions. And the sun? obviously as well.

Karin Hepp 00:41:14  Yeah. Sun and trade. Yeah.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:41:15  And the plants? Don't forget.

Abdullah Boulad 00:41:17  Yes, I love them.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:41:18  I love them. There's also a typical example. Right? Yeah. You you didn't buy 1 or 2 plants. A lot. And that, that create exactly this garden feeling. That's really good.

Abdullah Boulad 00:41:28  You are you get connected to nature with that. Yeah. Like the feeling. The feeling even though you are in a city. the edge of a city, let's say. But you feel like you are. It could be a, like a touch of a forest.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:41:43  Yeah. Exactly.

Abdullah Boulad 00:41:44  Yeah. That's what I loved about that.

Abdullah Boulad 00:41:45  Yeah. When you compare the space we have created together with traditional hospital spaces experiences. how would you compare?

Andreas Thomczyk 00:41:58  Well, we have we experienced, 15 years of hospital spaces in, in China also. Right. So, and you can imagine that was, Yeah. Well, they are very cold, very, very focused on.

Speaker 4 00:42:14  Getting things done. functional.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:42:17  Not comfortable. Yeah, exactly. Functional.

Karin Hepp 00:42:20  Functional. Fast?

Andreas Thomczyk 00:42:21  Yeah, fast. And, and I'm not sure I didn't go into the history of, of of newer hospital space, but I guess the change in hospital space was triggered by, children that, I mean, by designing more comfortable space for the little ones. And I think that's where different materials came in. Colors came in different, room setups. They don't look like a hospital necessarily anymore. And and I think you can say, like, with a balance, right. is a practice. this is the on the same track, I would say. Right. Like, you design, children practice.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:43:06  Practice for children, for instance. Or similar.

Abdullah Boulad 00:43:08  Yeah. Practice for children. Children. Because we realize maybe very, very early that children need also comforting. Exactly. You automatically care about children from a mental health perspective a little bit more. whereas with, with adults we assume. Yeah they are fine. They are just you for a surgery. Just enough for the functional work to do.

Karin Hepp 00:43:36  Yeah. Children they, they are not used to hide their emotions. Right. So that's something we adults we learned through through our life.

Abdullah Boulad 00:43:45  To regulation.

Karin Hepp 00:43:47  To control ourselves. And but children are not like that. So if they if they feel frightened, they feel frightened. So you need to create an environment to make sure they can open up. And as a doctor, you can have access to this child and maybe talk with the child and work worked together to create a healing. And for I think for adults, this is was not the case. But meanwhile, I would say studies also show that if, medical spaces look different and have this kind of higher level of comfort, that the healing process is also enhanced basically.

Karin Hepp 00:44:29  I think that's, that's definitely a big step in, in, in the medical design world I would say. and for us basically we were not so much thinking of designing a practice. We were more thinking of designing a home. Right. Something very yeah, very some space where you can open up a space where you would like to stay, in a space where you also feel comfortable with your family. Right.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:45:05  So you see that also in the furniture selection, right? The furniture we didn't look at, let's say office furniture. Not at all. So we looked at furniture for home.

Abdullah Boulad 00:45:17  Yes.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:45:18  I mean, it was also in line with your briefing, right? You wanted to have the the the room for the doctor, and the patient's not looking like, yeah, like an office and or like a typical,

Karin Hepp 00:45:31  For example, the doctor table. You can also maybe a writer would like to use the table to write a book. Right. So it's not a very traditional table. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:45:41  Yes, exactly. Because I was always visiting so many hospitals and clinics, therapeutic spaces for mental health and and other areas. Also psychiatrists or therapists in so many different areas in the world. You have the desk. The doctor or the specialist sits on one side of the desk and you are the patient. You sit on one side. Everything is sterile. It's like also the hierarchy changes and, And this is what I didn't like. I don't like this hierarchy. When you sit in a lounge, you give option to the client. Where do you want to sit? Also, not this traditional what you see in TV. Yeah. You lie on a, on a bench and and and I write. What, what you're telling me about yourself. It's more a collaborative space which is needed to in today's mental health treatment. And this is where the balance stands and stands for, we, we, we want a collaboration. We don't want this hierarchy. We tell you what you have to do. we want to listen and adapt to the to the individual needs.

Abdullah Boulad 00:46:54  And also by designing the space together, we were also thinking, I was always thinking, okay, with all the different types of possible clients and eventualities, and someone traumatized is someone coming highly intoxicated? Whatever this was, influenced into to to our conversation. So that's also what I always say you can depends also who I mean high executive people, a CEO, a celebrity or beside the privacy and and feeling safe which everyone needs. If you are used to luxury hotels or. A comfortable environment living at home, how would you feel if you are just put in a in a small, sterile room and you're expected to heal that?

Andreas Thomczyk 00:47:56  Yeah, but I think the luxury. Right. The definition of luxury obviously there's different kind of definitions, right? There's this luxury, the bling bling, let's say. Right. The, the.

Karin Hepp 00:48:07  The.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:48:07  The opulent luxury. Talking about five star famous hotels. Everything is opulent. This golden is blinky or diamonds. Or you can also in the car industry you see these cars, right? Yes.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:48:22  We have we thought for, for for the balance we sort more. We call it the modest luxury. It is a kind of. It is luxurious because we choose very high end material. Nice fabrics. Right. All of of perfect quality or decent quality. But how you assemble it, that you keep it somehow simple, right? To keep it also relatively pure. You don't overload anything. As I said, you don't create like fascinating items or surprises. No need. So I think it's also a kind of luxury. Right. It's different. And I can imagine even a famous celebrity, coming to your space, he will feel the ease. Right. He might not see that this looking the same. Like his own house or palms in Palm Springs or wherever. Right. But if it's a different kind of luxury, maybe you can. We could also call it a kind of Mediterranean luxury. Maybe. Right. I'm not sure.

Abdullah Boulad 00:49:23  I absolutely agree, and I want it also this term luxury, for me is not about about, an expensive environment or an expensive furniture or a bling bling type.

Abdullah Boulad 00:49:39  It's more about what the thought process is and how well designed something is well-designed in the sense of functionality and and and and use. and that's that's for me luxury. The luxury of being able, having the right solution and and not not just a luxury hotel, as you mentioned with the bling bling.

Karin Hepp 00:50:07  Yeah, yeah. I think it's also when it's really luxury. It's really also about the sound, the lighting, the haptic, the smell. So basically all the senses should be approached. And if each each one is you have to think, wow, this is nice. Or we also have, for example, the olive tree inside the space. so these, these kind of things create a kind of certain level of an environment which, which really is different from other spaces you usually used to be in or in cities you used to be in. and I think it, it creates this, this, this, feeling you can release. I think that's the most important for me, especially for for this project that we create this feeling.

Karin Hepp 00:51:03  Okay, I come in, I can release, I can calm down.

Abdullah Boulad 00:51:06  You have one. We have won the iconic award together.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:51:10  Yes.

Karin Hepp 00:51:11  I must say, we have won it. Yeah, because your team and our team together approach this.

Abdullah Boulad 00:51:16  Yeah, we definitely work together. But you, you have been influencing most of it. Definitely. We had the ideas, how we wanted things to to be for us, for our clients. But you made it to you brought it to life. So tell us, what's the iconic award and why is this so special and important?

Andreas Thomczyk 00:51:39  It's, I think it's originally founded by the German Design Council, which is a institution funded by the German government to promote, great design in architecture, also in product design, different on graphic design. Different levels on the international level. So it's a it's not only for Germany. It's open to to the whole world. It's once a year and we have for us the I mean, how can I say we never had a kind of business developer or different business development department, just do our job and then hopefully client is happy and recommend us to other friends, clients, etc..

Andreas Thomczyk 00:52:26  So but we recognize maybe handing in our project to awards is is helping us to promote not only to promote the quality of our of the outcome of our project, but also certainly internally for our staff. Right. It's also rewarding. So it's different levels, right? And for the clients as well, we have even clients. Meanwhile they they know that we have won the iconic award or German Design award or Red Dot Award. Several times they ask us, but can my project also get the awards, which you certainly cannot predict, right? But then, yeah, but for the for the balance. The project was interesting for us because most of our awarded projects in the last decade or last ten years were made in China, and it's the first award we made in Europe, and that's why we are so proud of it, as also, the first time we handed in a project for healthcare under the under the label healthcare. And when we handed in the project, we had the theme, probably we have no chance because it's too small, right? You compete against hospitals, for instance.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:53:37  Could be right. Do we have a chance? Maybe not, but obviously. And that that's I think that's nice that the jury recognized it. Right. They recognized the quality we were just talking about even it is a small project and it's in Spain. right? So, yeah, for us, it's, It's just proud, right?

Karin Hepp 00:53:59  Yeah. We are very proud of being a winner in this. In this category.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:54:03  Yeah.

Karin Hepp 00:54:05  yeah. But I would say I would dedicate it basically to our teams. Yeah, yeah, our team and your team. It was really great achievement. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:54:17  Definitely. Thank you. thanks to all of them. certainly. Who was participating and and working hard because I know it needed to be. It needed to be also in a specific period of time because we had a certain deadline. So it, it was a great effort of everyone involved. And I'm also very, very, very happy and proud about not just the result, but also how how everyone was also positive, working towards this goal and the process.

Karin Hepp 00:54:54  Yeah, I still remember the opening event. Yeah, that was really a remarkable moment because the day before we were still like assembling things, cleaning, organizing things, and then we were like, oh, this is maybe not happening. Everything on time. But finally we did it. And, yeah, the space is just amazing. So every time I go back to the space, I'm super happy to see it. And, yeah, it has this. It has a certain level of magic, I have to say. Yeah, it's it's really very nice.

Abdullah Boulad 00:55:30  Yes it does. I can I can definitely confirm that again and again. And now after, after a while being and working there, going in and out. So it always feels good. It always feels good when I, when I enter, it's like just just a refreshing arriving somehow And I would say goal accomplished. and, hopefully it has inspired the balance. This process of creating that space has inspired the balance to to implement that across different, different facilities we have.

Abdullah Boulad 00:56:10  So we will definitely look into more, how we can implement this further. And, and also we are we're working, towards other locations, other than just Mallorca. And so we will have conversations about how we could possibly implement that in other countries as well.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:56:34  That sounds. Sounds good.

Karin Hepp 00:56:35  Sounds good.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:56:36  Yes. Nice. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:56:37  For those at home and and, watching, listening to our conversation today, what can they what can they do in their environment to lift up? what would you recommend them?

Andreas Thomczyk 00:56:50  As I said in the beginning. Layout is really important and it's undervalued. When people looking at their home right, they think, okay, the house is there. I don't change the wall between two rooms, why should I? But in fact, sometimes it a relatively small change can change the flow and the energy in a house substantially. So I would I would spend a moment to reflect your layout and, and think about your own or family's flow. Right. Who is doing what? Why? For instance, a room is never in use.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:57:26  Why? One sofa is in a place where never anybody is sitting on. Right? This can happen. So ask yourself this kind of question and why is that? And then you need someone. Not necessarily. You need a feng shui master because they are somehow sometimes overdoing it. They are coming from only the perspective of feng shui. and not having maybe a holistic approach. But as I said, ask yourself this kind of question of your family flow inside your house, and how can this be amended with a layout? That would be my first advice.

Karin Hepp 00:58:03  And then sometimes it's also like Andy said, there are areas you use a lot in the house, and then there are other areas that are never in use. So why they are never in use? Maybe you can also think of rearrange the furniture a bit and give a try. It's it's you can go for four and backward right. So if you rearrange it and you have the feeling this is better, then it's better. If you have to think, no, it actually doesn't work, you still can go back to the original layout.

Karin Hepp 00:58:33  the other thing what I would do is thinking of the colors in the space. So each person actually has own kind of preferences which colors they feel comfortable with and which colors they don't feel comfortable with. So if you're a family, maybe you need to to find out who of you needs which colors around them, and then maybe you can. You don't need to repaint the whole apartment, but maybe you repaint one wall and give it a stronger tone. Or or you have already a lot of strong colors. Maybe neutralize it a bit. that's something also I would focus and try to work on. And then the other thing is things constantly change. So maybe if you have set up a house like 5 or 10 years ago, it's maybe time to reflect. Does this still fit me because things have changed. Maybe the job has changed. Children got bigger. Okay. And then readjust a little bit. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:59:38  But basically just to stop and reflect on on.

Andreas Thomczyk 00:59:43  How.

Karin Hepp 00:59:44  The space is about feeling. Yeah.

Karin Hepp 00:59:46  So what we do often we we many times we come into a project where we. The house is very old or, the plot. Right. To go on a plot and think about the orientation of a new house, or also sometimes for office space to see how you come up the elevator, how you enter the space. Where's the sun? So we, we we walk through spaces and then we try to feel what is good here and then make this stronger. And what is the problem in this space. And then think about sometimes even several rounds to refine a layout, which we also did with you. And maybe not. The first solution is the right solution. You need to work on it like writing a song or writing a book, right? It's also, you need to switch on all the tune on the details to really get it to the the final point, but I think it's the you feel it in your home. Maybe add a lamp somewhere. change from very cold light to warmer light.

Karin Hepp 01:00:57  Yeah. Very similar.

Andreas Thomczyk 01:00:58  Thinking about this lighting. That's an interesting point right. You buy a house. Let's say you buy a home as a family. And normally or very often there is, one lamp in the center of a room. Right. The classical, because it was cheap for the developer to do it. And, he doesn't need to think about it. It's guaranteed enough light, but it doesn't create any comfort. But I would say, if in your own home, think about lower light and additional light instead of, switching on the main light, I would, because it immediately creates comfort.

Abdullah Boulad 01:01:34  Multiple light sources.

Andreas Thomczyk 01:01:35  Multiple lights and is not expensive. Necessary, right? You can also have small table lamps like this. One can also get by Ikea. Just to name one. It's not necessarily a famous brand or expensive product, it's more about the arrangement. Yes, it can be done a lot. I have to.

Abdullah Boulad 01:01:53  Say, sometimes if you live in a in an environment you don't see maybe the details anymore.

Abdullah Boulad 01:01:59  That's correct. As usual. Yeah. So it's always maybe good also to get some some help out there. To help. Yeah. To, to to reflect and reassess because most probably that's the space where we spend the most time of our life.

Andreas Thomczyk 01:02:17  Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 01:02:19  It's our home.

Andreas Thomczyk 01:02:19  Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 01:02:20  And office space.

Andreas Thomczyk 01:02:22  Oh, yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 01:02:23  Thank you so much for for your time, for all the work you have done for for the balance, for the spaces we have created together. And, I wish you more awards to come.

Andreas Thomczyk 01:02:36  Thank you. Thank you.

Abdullah Boulad 01:02:37  Thank you very much.

Karin Hepp 01:02:38  It was very nice that you invite us for this talk. Thank you.

Andreas Thomczyk 01:02:42  Thank you.