The Continental Sorrento, affectionally known to locals as the “Conti”, was originally opened by politician, comic actor and entrepreneur George Coppin in 1875. Sorrento, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, has long been a popular holiday destination for its sheltered coastal access in Port Phillip Bay, little more than an hour from Melbourne’s central business district. It is also a region renowned for its naturally occurring geothermal mineral springs and associated therapeutic benefits.

The Conti’s redesign combines continental grandeur with a uniquely antipodean beachside sensibility in what Woods Bagot Chief Executive and lead architect Nik Karalis describes as “an amalgamation of the best of European with the whimsy of Australia”.

As the latest addition to the 108-key hospitality precinct, the Aurora Spa and Bathhouse provides a sensitive postscript to the hospitality experience, offering guests a space in which to pause, recharge and refresh.

Aurora participates in a centuries-old tradition combining transitory accommodation with thermal wellness amenity – offerings that have been linked as early as the 7th century, when the first Japanese Ryokan was built adjacent to an onsen.

“The correlation between heath and hotel is deeply rooted,” says Karalis. “Hotels – and the caravanserais, abbeys and inns that predate them – have a long history of being places of refuge and recovery.”

Woods Bagot Associate Principal and lead interior designer Sarah Alessi said Aurora’s design incorporates a material palette that invokes the ancient ritual of bathing.

“There is an antiquity about the materials, like limestone and copper, that even conjures a Mexican cenote,” says Alessi.

Upon arrival, guests are greeted by a central entrance piece, a copper-clad apothecary counter, selected for the metal’s long-held associations with water vessels, traced back as far as Mesopotamian times, for its low reactivity and naturally antibacterial benefits.

The Aurora bathing suite is inspired by a ten-step bathing ritual, designed to relieve body and mind in an architecturally-designed subterranean sanctuary. Facilities include four mineral-rich pools – the “daydream” pool, reflexology pool, cold plunge pool and vitality pool – as well as a Nordic timber-lined sauna, a steam room, a salt room and a “glacial mist” chamber.

“The core idea was manipulating the various chemical states of water, from liquid to agitated bubbles, to steam and ice,” says Alessi.

Hydrotherapy, hot-cold contrast, halotherapy (a treatment involving breathing in salty air), and geothermally heated mineral baths are just some of the curative water therapies offered in the Aurora bathhouse.

Achieving a languorous and sultry atmosphere, Woods Bagot uses low lighting, textured terrazzo finishes and brass accents throughout the bathhouse, referencing its ancient epicurean roots.

Folded copper wall art depicts Centella cordifolia – a species of creeping perennial herb endemic to the Mornington Peninsula. Also known as the “herb of longevity”, the Centella or pennywort family is believed to possess medicinal properties that help to hydrate and revive the skin.

The wider Conti rejuvenation sought to channel the concept of “modern nostalgia” – historic European grandeur with a contemporary Australian flair – integrating timeless design and enduring practices with state-of-the-art facilities. Similarly, Aurora combines ancient bathing traditions with new, evidence-based remedies for an experience that is simultaneously cutting-edge and time-honoured.

Constructed from locally quarried limestone in an Italianate design, the historic hospitality icon recently underwent a $120-million overhaul by Woods Bagot to restore and expand the existing facilities, retaining the hotel’s heritage character while injecting it with contemporary relevance and function.

As well as reviving George Coppin’s 1875 limestone hotel and accompanying 1930s extension, Woods Bagot designed four new buildings housing a new signature restaurant (spearheaded by celebrity chef and restauranteur Scott Pickett), a public bar, beer garden, conservatory, speakeasy, associated pool club and spa and bathhouse.

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Aurora joins a suite of Woods Bagot projects in the health and wellness space, including the Minthis Spa and Wellness Centre in Cyprus; the multisensory Zhenmeihui Clinic in Zhengzhou, China; and future Burnham Beeches wellness offering in the Dandenong ranges.