Donna Karan, fashion designer and founder of philanthropic organisation Urban Zen, has revealed that she has had spas built at three of her homes.

Karan has a spa at her apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West Side overlooking Central Park in New York. She also has a yoga hut at Parrot Cay, a private island resort on the Turks and Caicos Islands.

In addition, she had a spa house built in New York’s Northwest Harbor, East Hampton.

Karan told the Financial Times magazine: “For me a spa is an essential… My favourite room in my house is the spa in each of my homes. In each case their overall design was an integral part of the overall space.”

Spa Business recently reported on the history and progress of Karan’s philanthropic wellness treatment programme by Urban Zen called Urban Zen Integrative Therapy (UZIT).

Following the death of her second husband, Stephen Weiss, Karan went on a quest to fill the gap missing between medical treatment of diseases and sympathetic care of the individual. UZIT was the result. UZIT’s mission – carried out by trainers across the world – is to integrate ancient healing techniques into western medical practices, as well as spread this work further through yoga, spa and wellness centres.