Avanto Architects, Anu Puustinen and Ville Hara, Helsinki (FI)
The idea was to offer city dwellers and cruise ship passengers a genuine Finnish sauna experience. Löyly is not a traditional building. It is more of an artificial terrain formation, a part of the landscape. When the wooden building turns grey with time, it will resemble a rock on the shoreline. The building is the first Finnish and the second Scandinavian building to be awarded FSC Certification, which means that all the timber used in the building comes from sustainably managed forests.
The architectural idea is simple: The hot sauna spaces are contained in a black rectangular box covered by a free-form wooden “cloak”. The sculptural structure is not just a decoration. It serves several functions. The lamella is like a venetian blind that offers visual privacy but does not block the sea view from the inside. The cloak consists of about four thousand wooden components, computer-modelled and cut to size at the workshop of Puupalvelu Jari Rajala. The exterior wooden structures, which are made of heat-treated pine glulam with no surface treatment, will turn grey with time.
Client: Antero Vartia and Jasper Pääkkönen, Kidvekkeli Oy
Architectural design: Avanto Architects Ltd, Anu Puustinen and Ville Hara
Structural design: Ramboll Finland Ltd
Main contractor: Rakennustoimisto Jussit Oy
Wooden components: Puupalvelu Jari Rajala Oy (wood furniture contractor)
Nextimber (wood materials)
Area: Volume: 3466 m3, Gross floor: 656,3 m2, Total area: 1,070.5 m2
Construction system: Hybrid, steel and wood
Wood species: Pine
Certification: FSC Certification
Purpose: Public sauna and restaurant
Year completed: 2016
Photograph: Kuvatoimisto Kuvio Oy
