Sauna community culture is on the rise in Scandinavia with people pooling their resources to build and share hothouses all along the shore. On the Nesodden peninsula, a short ferry ride from the Norwegian capital Oslo, Oslo Works added The Hotspot sauna to the already growing number of communal saunas in the region.
To cater to the locals’ request for an eco-friendly sauna that offers breathtaking views, the team turned to burnt and oiled ore pine shingles for the cladding and perched the sauna on metal stilts on the peninsula’s rocky coast. They also adapted a modular structure so it can easily be transported to and constructed on the not-so-accessible edge of a smooth seaside rock.
The modularity of The Hotspot also allows flexibility to its structure, where it can have a roof terrace or additional shower rooms in the future. There’s also the potential of adding solar panels, a diving board, or connecting it to other Hotspots in a row.
Currently, this sauna consists of two parts divided by an narrow corridor which leads to the water and the bathing ladder. To the right is a section with storage for necessities and two small changing rooms. Meanwhile, to the left is the hot room equipped with a woodburning stove, a rounded back wall covered in burnt and oiled pine shingles, and a panoramic window that offers breathtaking views of Oslo’s skyline.
Oslo Works used large timber modules and burnt shingles for The Hotspot to minimize its carbon footprint. Wood is also naturally dense, thus providing great thermal insulation that heats the interior very well while regulating the moisture generated by the sauna.
Check It Out
Images courtesy of Oslo Works
