Floating sauna beside museum is accessible and sustainable

Posted on 26/06/2024 by Ida Torres

When visiting a museum that’s located next to a body of water, probably the next thing you think of after you’ve completed your tour is: “Hmmm, it would be nice to have a relaxing time at a sauna”. Well, that’s if you’re tired after going around the museum. If you visit the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, you will get the chance to do just that.

Designer: Estudio Herreros

Trosten is a floating sauna that you can find in the fjord next to the museum as both are designed by Estudio Herreros. The idea is to bring saunas closer to the people and make it sustainable and accessible as well. They were inspired by architectural follies but aside from it being aesthetic, the structure is still also highly functional but with a “distinct volume and silhouette with a strong, colorful component”.

The sauna’s main structure is actually constructed offsite and then placed on the prefabricated floating concrete platform. It’s made with aluminum cladding with a green tone to give off a calm and relaxing vibe, combining it with the usual wooden decking you see on saunas with large terrazzo tiled surfaces plus steel balustrades and netting. Outside there’s stepped seating so users can also sunbathe before or after using the sauna. Inside there are lockers and seating spaces and inside the sauna itself you get stepped wooden seating.

At the back, there’s also a sheltered seating space and you can access the fjord from here if you want to cool off. Since this is a sustainable structure, you get an energy system and a steam recirculation system and use of natural and recycled materials. It would be nice to heat up and cool off at something like this after a long day of exploring the museum and nearby places.

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This Little Wooden Sauna Is Elevated On Stilts On The Rocky Coast Of Norway

Posted on 14/03/2024 by Srishti Mitra

Oslo Works designed and perched a little wooden sauna over the rocky shore of Nesodden peninsula, Norway. The sauna is elevated over the shore, and finished with wooden shingles, creating a rustic yet charming persona. It is designed for the local community and named the Hotspot. It is only a short ferry ride from Oslo and is intended to be an adaptable, easy-to-maintain, and eco-friendly structure. Lately, communal saunas have been increasing in the area, as local communities are joining forces to fund and build them, and the Hotspot is another new addition!

Designer: Oslo Works

“A sauna is best enjoyed together,” said the studio. “This may be the reason why sauna community culture has been rising in Scandinavia over the last few years. People are putting their forces together in order to finance, build, and share hothouse all along the shore.”
The Hotspot sauna has been segregated into two sections through a narrow open passage, which will lead visitors to the water and the bathing ladder. The main hot room is located on the left-hand side, while the storage and changing facilities are located on the right. The hot room is heated by a little woodburning stove, and visitors can take a dip in the ice-cold water, before meeting up in this room. The room has access to stunning views of Oslo’s skyline. Oslo Works picked a material palette that camouflages the home with its surroundings when viewed from the mainland.

The main room has a rounded back wall that is covered in burnt and oiled pine shingles, which allows the cabin to merge with “pine trees and grey granite shore rocks”, as said by the studio. The building is also built using wood, with massive timber modules forming the frame. This helps to reduce the embodied carbon of the site.

Since the Hotspot features a modular form, it was quite easy to transport and construct on the site, which is difficult to reach. On the site, the sauna is elevated on metal stilts. The sauna’s modularity also supports future flexibility and leaves scope for adaptations such as the inclusion of a roof terrace, and additional shower rooms.

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The Saltsaun NW Trailer Lets You Have A Sauna Anywhere And Everywhere You Go

Posted on 21/02/2024 by Srishti Mitra

Meet the all-new Saltsaun NW trailer, a sauna that you can hitch up and tow anywhere with you. You can use the sauna in your backyard, or wherever you like. The NW trailer is influenced by the covered wagons that used to roam Oregon, and it is designed to be a versatile on-/off road trailer, allowing a Himalayan salt-lined cedar wood sauna to be attached behind any vehicle. There is an option of an electric or wood stove, for when you’re traveling on or off-grid.

Designer: Bend Teardrop

The Saltsaun NW trailer isn’t the first of its kind, but it does have a very appealing and unique design with impressive amenities and capabilities that truly set it apart. The trailer consists of a highway-speed-capable and off-road-ready square-tube chassis that measures 6×8 feet. The trailer measures 13 inches and rides on 15-inch wheels. The roof of the Saltsaun NW features the design and construction skills we saw in the teardrop trailer by Bend, which creates a rounded-roof body, quite similar to a solid-roofed covered wagon.

The trailer is made from cedar wood locally sourced in the Pacific Northwest. It features a large checker plate panel up front, with aluminum paneling below, and a corrugated metal roof scaffolding that provides protection to the wood from the hazards of road and weather. The roof also shelters a small porch with two integrated seats which are designed for cooling off.

The Saltsaun NW trailer can house four to five adults on its benches. The focal point of the design is the electric or wood stove that can set the temperature between 100 and 200 °F (38 to 93 °C). The trailer’s electric model features a 3-kW steam-ready heater that can be plugged into a 110-V outlet with a recommended 20-A+ output., whereas the wooden stove model is intended to be an off-grid solution, and it is equipped with a rock basket for steaming, as well as a deep-cycle battery, and 100-W solar panel for the interior/exterior lighting.

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Floating architecture designs to light up Copenhagen, Maldives

Posted on 31/10/2023 by Ida Torres

Water-based architecture is not about boats, yachts, or ships, or at least not just about them. We’re seeing some designers experiment with bringing all kinds of floating structures that residents and tourists can enjoy while basking in breathtaking views. A Copenhagen-based studio is teaming up with the local municipality to bring these unique concepts to life and show different possibilities for this kind of architecture.

Designer: MAST

The first of three projects is a floating sauna and harbor bath where up to fifteen people will be able to have a relaxing time while looking at an aquatic view. They can even plunge directly into the harbor bath after sweating it up in the sauna. It uses eco-friendly materials like cross-laminated timber and wood fiber insulation. This floating sauna is also “portable” in a sense that it can be moved to different locations through a towboat. There is also a small changing room as well as storage facilities and a wooden deck with access to the harbor bath.

The Harbour Cliff is the first free-floating open bouldering gym in the world where visitors can swim to it and then try the different climbing routes within the structure. There are three slightly inverted ledges to do the different challenges, including a 14.8 foot climb where you need to do a particularly hard jump to be able to reach the final spot. It looks like something straight out of an alien invasion movie and I keep expecting a monster to emerge from the structure.

Lastly, if you don’t want to sweat it out in the sauna or do bouldering, you can head over to the Maldives to visit a floating villa. These villas are anchored in protected lagoon areas and have two bedrooms, bathrooms, a loving room, and even a courtyard garden and a roof terrace. As part of their eco-friendly design, they use solar cells, battery packs, on-board sewage treatment and watermakers.