Serlachius Art Sauna in Mänttä, Finland

Art Sauna is an extension of the emotional journey that the Gösta Serlachius Museum proposes to the visitor. The new building, subtle, intimate, and domestic in scale, adds to the ensemble where art, nature, and architecture create a dialogue between equals.

The building merges with the topography, making it part of the landscape. A solid plinth of textured artificial stone keeps it in contact with the ground, while in the interiors and on the terrace wood is the protagonist, relating it to the construction tradition of this type of building and to the forest.

The project is committed to breaking the traditional scheme where changing rooms and sauna are directly connected, placing between them an exterior vestibule that functions like the atriums of the domus of the Roman temples. This singular space surprises visitors and prepares them for the experience inside the cylindrical construction that houses the sauna room (the temple), a space that with its geometry offers an intimate atmosphere of community and belonging.

Outside, a large terrace contained by the building and the surrounding nature opens onto the lake. The centrepiece of this space is the Candela table. Created with the same material that covers the façades, the prefabricated concrete pieces that form it enhance the elegance and simplicity of its geometry.

Project: 2019-2020
Status: Completed on June 2022
Location: Mänttä, Finland
Client: Gosta Serlachius Art Foundation
Area: 220 sqm
Architects: Boris Bežan, Mara Partida, Héctor Mendoza
Local architect: Planetary Architecture