Löyly Sauna, Helsinki Spa Building, Finnish Architecture Images
Löyly Sauna in Helsinki
Finnish Contemporary Spa Building, Finland – design by Avanto Architects Ltd
10 Oct 2016
Löyly Sauna
Design: Avanto Architects Ltd
Location: Hernesaarenranta 4, Helsinki, Finland
Löyly Sauna

Sauna culture

Sauna bathing is an essential part of Finnish culture and national identity. There are only 5,4 million Finns but 3,3 million saunas. Public saunas used to be common in bigger cities but now that most new apartments have sauna of their own, public saunas have decreased dramatically in number. There are only a couple remaining. As a sense of community is becoming a more and more important part of new urban culture, many new public saunas are being planned. With L̦yly (meaning the steam that comes when you throw water on hot stones in a sauna) Helsinki will offer foreign visitors a public sauna experience all year round Рa must when visiting Finland.
Process

The project started from the city of Helsinki initiative. Hernesaari is a former industrial area on the Helsinki seashore that is being developed into a residential area. New uses are being developed for the area, while waiting for future changes to come. There is a cruise ship harbor in Hernesaari and the city wanted to activate the area with new functions and to serve visitors with new attractions. We started the project in 2011 designing a temporary sauna village at the furthermost end of the peninsula. The...