An acronym for the Roman saying salus per aquam, today the term "spa" is still used for places where certain water-based therapies are carried out, but has come to include a range of treatments associated with physical and psychological well-being. The recent proliferation of spas has entailed a complete rethink of the architectural features associated with such places, by which the new interior designs borrow numerous semantic cues from the ancient cults of community bathing, interpreting them to create arenas of multisensory experience, with increasing emphasis on narrative features that provide settings for the new rituals of body-care.