SAUNA
SAUNA is a student design-built project, made within the 2024 summer course From Concept to Construction. The course explored the island of Holmön in the Baltic Sea which offers an opportunity to explore the questions of self-sufficiency, resilience and community engagement. SAUNA – ITU is a community owned and operated sauna. Its design derives from a structural logic of an outer frame shaping two main volumes that facilitate a sauna space and changing room.
From Concept to Structure is a hands-on summer course offering students an intense design-build collaborative learning process imbedded in a local social context. This year we set out to explore the island of Holmön in the Baltic Sea which offers an opportunity to explore the questions of self-sufficiency, resilience and community engagement.
SAUNA – ITU is a community owned and operated sauna. Its design derives from a structural logic of an outer frame shaping two main volumes that facilitate a sauna space and changing room. The two volumes are separated by a delicate thin void that hints onto the mobile and adaptive nature of the structure - it is possible to move each volume separately by a forklift to new locations to respond to the island’s seasonality and the needs of the community. The outside walkways and double entrances in each of the longitudinal facades allows an easy adaptation for different locations and site conditions. Diamond-shaped openings in the facade give the structure its own character and serve as playful light sources and indicators of occupancy.
The structure is built by students using locally sourced and sawn timber under supervision of a local carpenter and teachers from Umeå School of Architecture.
Students: Lisa Drakenberg, Axel Gillblad, Clara Henrup, Cornelia Kalle, Richard Lövby, Oscar Sandberg, Sofia Walter, Alva Westlund, Oscar Bergsten, Jonas Eltes, Gustav Marklund.
Tutors: Maja Hallén, Joar Sandström, Joël Jouannet, Toms Kokins
Course responsible: Sara Thor
The project is realized with the support of Länsstyrelsen Västerbotten and Umeå Municipality.
UMA is happy to continue working with the island community as part of the Interreg NPAB project Bauhaus goes North. In collaboration with Umeå University Building Physics and Electronics, Umeå municipality and in exchange with partner islands in Cork County, Ireland we are testing transdisciplinary formats in education and research and planning a demonstrator project with the continuous aim to see how academia can contribute to sustainable development on the ground.
