Alright, this turned out very cool. It’s a community sauna (yes, sauna!), designed and built very much from the community. Sitting atop an existing pier structure in the rapidly changing and former industrial harbor of Gothenburg, the project brought together architects and local volunteers to create something new using as much recycled materials as possible sourced from its industrial surroundings.
Which turned out to be a very cool generator for form (and function). Ya got what ya got, be it corrugated metal, bits of wood at certain lengths, tonnes of excess bottles, and who knows, those stairs might well have been a cast-off find as well. With that you play, and play, and play some more, and before you know it, you’ve got something visually engaging and a series of spaces that are perfect for the sauna experience.
Check out the glow from those bottle windows, or the sinuous wood womb that is the sauna proper. Or even the walkway leading to and from it all, looking like a natural dry riverbed from the odd bits of wood and random bits of stone tiling.
To go to this sauna is a trip, a playful one, that not only engages the community but truly comes from and can be owned by the community. Perched out on the already interesting structure of the pier, it’s rough and tumble cladding speaks to the old while its sculptural nature enlivens all that is around it. Best of all, that crazy form permeates to create a sweet experience within. Good stuff.
The Svettekörka by Raumlabor.
Lynx Thoughts 