Sublime Saunas

The sauna door handle is a simple piece of driftwood. “One principle rule I followed,” says Kiehl, “was: Don’t build on outdoor space if it can work as outdoor living space. Norwegian summers are short. We want to be outdoors as much as possible.”

The entire sauna was assembled in only 6 hours, a process which took place both on land and in the lake.

The serene wood-clad sauna.

The sauna structure includes a small deck.

The exterior is constructed from cypress pine wood and lightweight polycarbonate.

The woodburning sauna stove is made by a Finnish company, IKI.

In a break from his regular programming, lighting designer Brendan Ravenhill built a floating sauna that’s a love letter to New England’s functional but cozy architecture. With friends and family, Brendan makes an occasion of rowing out to the sauna for a sweat followed by a cold plunge during the summer.

Firewood can be stored beneath the slatted benches, which can comfortably accommodate group sweats thanks to a second tier at the back. A large sauna stove was craftetd by Sam Shaw.

Simple solid and void carvings create a purposefully oriented and constructed complex of volumes that pull the user out to nature and in to repose.

Queenstown gets cold in winter, hence the installation of a sauna. Outside, the landscaping was kept deliberately casual, with rock walls and gravel paths.

Firewood abounds at this historic homestead that was converted from a neglected farm in rural Germany into a sustainable and modern vacation village by an artist couple from Amsterdam. The sauna is powered by the stacked firewood outside, which keeps it at 70 degrees -- a warm, enveloping temperature that is gentler on the circulatory system.

The home includes a traditional Finnish sauna clad in birch.

A wood-burning stove from Harvia, of Finland, heats the sauna. The pavilion’s rough-cut pine walls are treated with tar, a preservative that yields a time-worn aesthetic.

The lower floor houses a spa, gym, and office. A built-in bathroom by Espace Cuisine includes a sauna.

This revamped Montreal flat includes a rooftop sauna lined with torrified, or dried, cedar. Outfitted with glass paneling and oriented to capture views of Mount Royal, it is the ideal haven for this hardworking homeowner.

Achieving such efficiency and maintaining the integrity of the wetlands and woodlands on the property meant more research for both the designers and the resident—just getting approval for the siting of the buildings and the driveway took eight months—but Hague is hardly one to do things half way. “A lot of times couples engage in house-building, like birds. I'm doing this solo, more like a monk,” he says of the deeply personal undertaking.

The ground-floor sauna, one of the home’s central gathering spots, is built from stained alder. The electric heater is from the Finnish company Iki.