The most unusual saunas in the world: Photos and descriptions

The sauna remains Finland's most important contribution to world culture, after Nokia phones, the game AngryBirds and the Sibelius Symphony. Finland is one of the northernmost countries; it is not surprising that the inhabitants of this frosty country love to bask in hot rooms.

Southern peoples do not always correctly understand the attractiveness of the sauna. A real Finnish sauna has windows overlooking the beautiful landscape and contrast cooling in the lake, pool or shower. Finns can spend several hours in the sauna, drinking beer during breaks. This is a whole ritual, and not just a way to sweat and wash.

But not only Finns love the sauna. Many other nations also like to take a good steam bath. Saunas began to appear in the most unexpected places and in the most unexpected forms. The crazy Finnish trend has spread throughout the world. We present to your attention the most unusual saunas in the world.

Sauna in a gondola (Ylläs, Finland)

The Finnish ski resort boasts not only beautiful views and proximity to the Arctic Circle, but also a very unusual sauna on the ski lift. While you are making your way up, you can use the gondola sauna. Imagine that you are at a height, there are skiers, mountains and snow below, and you are enjoying the park in a comfortable sauna for four.

The ascent lasts about 20 minutes. This will be enough to get you into a good sweat. This sauna-gondola is part of a whole range of services, including massages and spa treatments at the foot of the ski hill. There is also a sauna on the ground at the other end of the climb. All this pleasure costs 1350 euros for 2 hours. During this time, 12 people can “ride” in the hanging sauna. Compared to prices in Finland for regular private saunas, this is not a bad option at all.

Usachevsky

This place is extremely popular among those who are not ready to spend serious money on a bathhouse, but at the same time count on truly high-quality heat and do not shy away from the rather peculiar manners of the local steam bathers.

Here you will find a classic Soviet interior with wooden partitions painted in a depressing burgundy color and tiles, which in the pre-perestroika years were glued to these walls using a mixture of Moment glue with dry construction plaster.

There is no swimming pool as such, the list of additional services looks extremely ascetic and includes, in addition to washing, only cosmetic procedures and massage. “Sadness and melancholy,” some will say. Nothing like that, just look at the local contingent! Stunning elderly professors, sophisticated ladies from the house on the embankment, and young ladies who are like two peas in a pod like the characters in the popular Soviet drama “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears” often like to come here.

It has its own atmosphere and a crowd of avid bath attendants. Just one thousand two hundred rubles - and you will have the opportunity to stay in this “fairy-tale” place as long as your heart desires.

Sauna Skybox arena (Helsinki, Finland)

If in Brazil the second most popular activity after football is TV series, then in Finland, after the sauna, hockey comes in second place. So the Finns decided to combine these two pleasures into one.

At the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki you can rent one of several skyboxes with installed saunas. The largest in size is the 408 skybox. Although it can accommodate 72 people, you cannot have that many people in it at the same time. In these pits you can always see a lot of hot and sweaty fans, literally and figuratively watching the game with fervor.

By the way, there is a very interesting article about the most beautiful Finnish girls on our website most-beauty.ru.

Results

In the article, we specifically selected several completely different designs for beautiful baths, going from simple to complex. In this way they tried to give general directions to modern designers and architects. A beautiful bathhouse is the fruit of the labor of many professional specialists; not only architects, but also engineers, technologists and, of course, designers work on the project. The highest quality materials and advanced technologies are selected, and solutions are selected for each individual case. Most of the projects are exclusive, designed for individual orders.

Of course, each developer can make his own changes, but this must be done carefully and competently. Unprofessional changes in complex projects can negatively affect the strength of the load-bearing elements of the bathhouse

If you want to make your own edits, then it is better to change only design solutions and not touch engineering and architectural developments.

And one last thing. Everyone dreams of a beautiful bathhouse, but as surprising as it may seem, most “dreamers” can make it a reality. This will require persistence and the ability to choose the best solution for yourself.

In this case, the maximum number of different factors should be taken into account

Sauna on a homemade raft (Joensuu, Finland)

On many Finnish (and not only) lakes you can find floating saunas. They are even found on the Baltic Sea near Helsinki. In addition to standard pleasures, water saunas offer an additional option - immediately take a running plunge after a steam room in the lake. There is no need to go down somewhere barefoot and naked - cool water is right outside the door.

Among all water saunas, Saunalautta can be distinguished. This is a homemade two-tier raft that was built by a group of enthusiastic friends. On the upper tier there is an observation deck and a diving board. If the depth of the water allows, you can refresh yourself after the sauna by jumping from a height into the water.

Sandunovskys

This is not just a bathhouse in Moscow, but a real monument of cultural heritage (the heat here has been famous throughout Moscow since 1808), and at the same time, perhaps the most “star” washing station in the entire eastern part of the Old World. Fyodor Chaliapin and Vladimir Gilyarovsky himself took a steam bath here more than once (“whoever hasn’t been to Sanduny has never seen Moscow”). After all, this is where Doronin-era Naomi Campbell loved to soap her gorgeous feet.

In a word, the place is extremely interesting. Just a dozen years ago, passage here for ordinary people was prohibited due to the high cost. Judge for yourself - entrance to the first-class cabin (where there is a stove from a steam locomotive and the most beautiful steam) cost about a thousand American dollars.

However, times have changed and baths have become closer to the people. At the moment, a booth in the highest women's category will cost 1,850 rubles, for the first category you will have to pay one and a half thousand. Remember that when coming here on weekends, you need to be prepared to stand in a huge line among Moscow fashionistas who love to first generously smear themselves with Siberian mud, then lie around in a “cocoon” suit, and then steam and dive into the plunge pool. Join us!

Sauna on Wheels (San Francisco, California)

Nick Klein and his friends built a mobile sauna on wheels, Left Coast Sauna. They had seen such saunas many times in Northern Europe and wanted to bring this idea to their homeland. So they built a cedar barrel sauna for six people and put it on wheels. At first they planned to rent it out for special events, and the rest of the time the sauna would be idle.

But seeing a lot of interest in their mobile sauna, the team decided to ride around the area near San Francisco. They drove everywhere from the grassy fields of Marin County to the residential neighborhoods of San Francisco's Noe Valley, simply parking next to public spaces. They did not charge money for the first session, but for subsequent sessions they asked for payment. By the way, clients almost always lingered in such an unusual sauna.

After searching the Internet, we found many more photos of bathhouses and saunas on wheels. There are especially many of them in the vast expanses of the former Soviet Union.

High-tech and techno in a bath style

But adherents of modern technologies are faced with a completely difficult task: how to build a good, functional Russian bathhouse, but without any hints of a hut? In this case, the trends in techno and hi-tech (“high technology”) architecture come to the rescue. After all, the internal filling of the steam room can be anything you want, but the essence of the bath is only in maintaining the correct temperature and humidity conditions. And sometimes new steam generators, ventilation systems, chrome-plated powerful stoves and a swimming pool with hydromassage somehow don’t look right against the backdrop of shaggy croakers and rough log walls. And what kind of outer shell a real Russian bathhouse will have is another question.

And so a new style of architecture and exterior of Russian baths was born: strict, laconic forms, almost complete absence of accessories, huge darkened Euro-windows from the dressing room from ceiling to floor and techno colors: gray, brown and black. These can be wooden baths, or beautiful steam rooms made of cinder blocks with spectacular siding trim with imitation of something. Yes, it’s unusual, but quite stylish, and in any country house or garden plot such a bathhouse will be a striking architectural object.

Give free rein to your imagination and true Russian craftsmanship - and the most beautiful baths in the world from glossy magazines will be eclipsed!

Cold Surf Sauna (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)

Surfers in the northeastern United States have taken the mobile sauna idea to the next level. Their constant problem was sub-zero air temperatures and snow-covered ground. How to fly through the waves in such conditions? Wearing multi-layer wetsuits that make you look like the man from a Michelin tire ad? Very uncomfortable.

Together with sailors and masters, local surfers created a Surf Sauna, in which they warmed up in between riding the waves. It is made of red cedar, also has a barrel shape and can be rolled directly to the shore or any other place. Cool idea for ice surfing!

Warsaw

The results of the recent reconstruction were increased prices, the absence of cockroaches, grannies with basins and a modernized design. The bathhouses of the peoples of the world located on the fourth floor make a particularly strong impression: it’s like a wild Ginza fantasy.

Here you will be offered professional service and an individual approach to everyone who wants to take a steam bath, and local specialists will probably buzz everyone’s ears with monologues about how wonderful it is to order a personal bathhouse and that everyone here does it.

It will all end with a local professional setting up the right temperature for you in the steam room, giving you some herbs to steam, wrapping you in a branded towel, as if from the Starkov hotel, while at the same time starting an unobtrusive conversation about the meaning of life and the search for sources of pleasure in it - they like things like that here Topics.

Despite all the negative aspects that the innovations brought with them, Varshavka also has an extremely significant, serious plus: a luxurious procedure for washing the body. Just imagine how gently they rub and pamper you. Girls, believe me, this is a real treat for your party-weary little body.

Sauna on the rocks (Vestvagøy, Norway)

This sauna has a very unusual design. It stretches out on the shore of one of the Norwegian islands right on the rocks, like paper origami. It was developed by students from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. The complex was built in a former fishing village next to abandoned houses and buildings that were previously used by residents for salting cod and producing fish oil.

The idea behind the project is to transform the area into a center for art, design and culture, with the Bands Sauna (as it's called) being its centerpiece. The spacious sauna has an area of 15 square meters, a hydromassage bath, a loggia for an outdoor picnic, and constant access to cold water, where you can refresh yourself after the steam room.

Gedyk Pasha, Türkiye

The authentic Turkish baths - Gedyk Pasha Hammam - are the oldest in Istanbul, Türkiye. They were built back in the 15th century, and most guidebooks write that only local residents go here. However, this is not so, and a tourist who finds himself in the Gedik Pasha hammam will be pleasantly surprised. At the entrance you are given peshtemal towels and sheets. It is not too hot in the main hall of the Hararet, because it is customary to stay here for a long time, as if languishing and occasionally cooling off in the pool. For those who like something “hot,” there is a classic high-temperature sauna. In the center of the room there is a hot “belly stone”, on which clients receive a peeling massage using a hard mitt. Foam soap massage is also in favor here, which allows you to perfectly cleanse the skin. The men's and women's sections are located separately here.

Raised Sauna (Colroy-la-Roche, France)

Forested hills seem to stretch on forever in this region of France near the Rhine River and the German border. The owners of Hostellerie La Cheneaudière & Spa wanted their guests to be able to enjoy beautiful views of nature even while relaxing in the sauna, so they built a sauna at altitude. There is nothing under the sauna except supports.

After mountain biking or skiing, guests can relax by the pool, climb the stairs to the sauna and enjoy the stunning views.

Foundation

A long-lasting bathhouse, created from timber, can be erected on a strip or columnar foundation.

To construct a strip foundation, formwork is built and filled with concrete mixture. Inside the foundation there will be a strip of sand or crushed stone.

A couple of weeks after the concrete has completely hardened, you can begin laying the frame.

However, no matter what type of foundation you choose, it is important to strengthen it with reinforcement for durability.

You also cannot do without practical waterproofing created between the original crown and the base. For these purposes, bitumen is applied to the foundation surface in molten form, which is laid with an even layer of roofing material. As soon as it hardens, the procedure must be repeated.

If you have decided to build a reliable and beautiful bathhouse, then be sure to get a project and, based on our recommendations, make your dreams come true.

Sauna Tower (Bochum, Germany)

This unusual sauna is built from prefabricated concrete structures on an industrial wasteland in a former coal-mining region of Germany.

These blocks were previously used to build coal mines. Now, instead of going down the shaft, you need to climb up. On the first level there is a small pool, on the second there is a sauna, and on the third highest level there is a relaxation room with a view of the sky.

The name of this architectural absurdity is “One Person Sauna,” because only one person will feel comfortable there. The idea is to create a space for peace and relaxation, but also to show the other side of an industrial ghost town with nothing else to do.

By the way, an interesting article was recently published on most-beauty.ru about the coolest bars located underground.

Beautiful bathhouse designs, unusual and new solutions

Beautiful bathhouse projects: a non-standard approach to traditional construction, unusual solutions to standard projects, a new look at the design of bathhouses, a video collection about the construction of beautiful bathhouses.

About the log house and frame

The most popular building material used for the construction of baths remains wood. The greatest demand is for two types of structures, constructed from a frame or rounded logs. The history of log construction goes back many thousands of years. There were log buildings in areas densely covered with forest. The log houses were built mainly by residents of poorer classes. The wealthier ones built stone chambers for themselves.

Today, not everyone can afford to build a log structure. The market dictates demand, which has recently increased significantly, and wood has acquired a very high price. Log houses are considered the most expensive buildings. In addition, the technology for manufacturing a log structure is quite uneconomical. When constructing a log house, a large amount of waste is generated, which cannot be used anywhere else and must be disposed of as construction waste.

The technology of constructing wooden houses from a frame, followed by filling the internal cavities with special materials and subsequent cladding of the finished structure, was developed in the West. It came to us under the name “Canadian technology” and contains the concept of building wooden houses using an almost waste-free method.

Interesting solutions in wooden construction

Very often the following picture is observed in a person’s behavior when he acquires a plot of land in a suburban area. As a rule, the very first step for many is laying the foundation for a future bathhouse. Note, not buildings in which you can live, but rooms where there is an opportunity to rest, relax and get pleasure for the soul and body.

A Russian person and a steam room are practically inseparable concepts. The existing tribute to the traditions of bathing events has firmly settled in the Russian consciousness, and a comfortable rest at the end of the working week for many becomes a kind of fetish, goal and aspiration. But this is not surprising. As a result, plans, diagrams and projects of country wooden baths are born. They can be included in the calculation of the construction of the main houses, representing a small house with a small wood-burning bathhouse, or a bathhouse and a garage under one roof, or a completely separate, separate building.

A classic of the genre is a traditional country wooden building, erected on a coastal strip near a river or on the edge of a picturesque lake. The material for such buildings are various variations of natural wood. Depending on the financial status of the owner of the steam room, the erected object of “cult” can be made of logs. A small percentage of log buildings are laid by hand. A little more often you will see buildings made of rounded logs. The most common buildings are made of glued or profiled timber in the form of small houses with a small bathhouse. This is obvious, since timber buildings are considered the most affordable in terms of pricing.

We all know that wood belongs to the category of the most environmentally friendly building material with a unique air exchange system, a low thermal conductivity coefficient, thanks to which the premises retain heat perfectly, do not release steam to the outside and emit a unique aroma of wood, full of charm and attributed to medicinal properties.

All about the variety of projects

Designing wooden baths today represents an entire branch of production. Among the huge number of ready-made standard projects, you can find both small buildings, 3x3 or 3x4 in size, containing a standard set of premises - a steam room, a washing room and a dressing room, as well as luxurious two or three-story apartments of a bathhouse complex. The project may include premises with the most diverse and fantastic purposes and functionality.

Video project of one of the most beautiful modern log baths “Elena the Beautiful”, now put into operation. The video mentions how the project was conceived and some design features during the construction of the facility:

The construction of baths has long gone beyond the framework of standard projects containing traditional elements, such as a steam room, a washing room and a dressing room. More and more, customers are giving preference to buildings equipped with spacious terraces with the possibility of a barbecue or a large fireplace, wide gyms with treadmills, swimming pools and a plunge pool. Original, mostly non-standard projects are submitted for development by modern customers.

Original sauna with barbecue oven

An original combination of a bath complex equipped with a barbecue oven, located on a wide terrace. The result of the design is the creation of conditions for a comfortable stay surrounded by close relatives and friends. The stove is built-in, one side opens into the rest room. This solution eliminates the question of having a heating system for the relaxation area.

Original sauna with swimming pool

The most popular megaproject at the present stage. The existing mythical idea of the excessively expensive construction of a swimming pool has sunk into oblivion, thanks to the mass of information that developers and builders have disseminated. A small free-standing swimming pool without a heating system, equipped with a canopy and a log structure, is an affordable pleasure for almost everyone.

Wooden two-story bathhouse complexes with a swimming pool are the crowning achievement of the architectural solution. Here you will find the most unexpected finds of bold design ideas. Each individual project is a unique ensemble of wood and stone.

Original bathhouse with billiards room

Very interesting projects with the placement of a billiards room. In all the plans presented, the rooms equipped for billiards have different areas - from 20 to 40 sq.m and above. As a rule, the billiard room is located on the attic floor, leaving the lower floor for the bath complex, which includes the main relaxation area.

Original bathhouse with veranda

Many projects with different locations of extensions in the form of verandas, terraces and patios emphasize the uniqueness of each individual scheme. The veranda can be located frontally, or along the entire facade or wall. Each solution has its own style and is the hallmark of the bathhouse.

Original bathhouse with terrace

Standard projects are often equipped with terraces. A terrace with a corner bathhouse erected in one of the corners of the building site will look beautiful and carry the full functional load. A building with a terrace gives a special coziness to the owner’s area.

Original bathhouse with attic

An unsurpassed opportunity to increase the usable area of a building without changing the boundaries of the foundation. At the same time, you can truly change the appearance of an old steam room, giving it an unsurpassed original appearance. The attic is the most popular decision made when building a guest house-bath.

Original solution! Mobile barrel sauna on wheels

Bathhouse-night club (Liquidrom, Germany)

As you can see, in Germany they also don’t mind warming up in a sauna. They also like to hang out in nightclubs and listen to music. In the city, Liquidrom made a hybrid of a club and a sauna. The complex includes a dry and wet steam room, a salt cave, massage rooms, a terrace with sun loungers and... a nightclub.

The separate room with the pool is dim and sparkling with disco lights. Fashionable music plays and artists perform. Music speakers play even underwater.

Manor mansions or bathhouse in Russian

The Russian soul is broad – and its views on the construction of houses and baths are just as broad. If you have the budget and the desire, why not build real mansions instead of a small steam room? Made from expensive thick logs, with a luxurious weather vane on the roof, skillful wood carvings and spacious, bright rooms.

Why are such beautiful bathhouses being built today from thick massive timber, and where does so much usable space go? Well: a relaxation room, a billiard room, a home-style SPA salon for women, a summer bedroom on the second floor, a guest room, an indoor pool... Such baths are already called bath complexes, and similar ones only in the Moscow region require payment in the amount of average monthly income in the country. And there is a reason for it.

To say that such a bathhouse looks gorgeous is to say nothing. But recently the tendency to use the roof of bathhouses in an unconventional way has become more interesting. Like in New York skyscrapers, in such mansions it often has a certain flat area and sun loungers are already placed on it, a barbecue gazebo is organized, and even real greenhouses are installed. Surely not a single ferret will climb there! And not a single thief will steal expensive equipment for heating and automatic watering.

But the pools in such steam rooms are not always inside - often they are simply attached to the building, protected from plant debris and the hot sun with a polycarbonate cap. It’s warm, beautiful, and accessible to any Russian, even within their means.

The only thing that designers responsible for the exterior of such baths always insist on is absolute stylization of the Russian folk style. So that such a bathhouse really looks like a mansion, and not like a powerful complex of a secret organization. And this is stylized external decor, wooden furniture at the porch, processed round logs, strict color schemes with a desire for naturalness and masterful wood carvings. After all, in such a bathhouse, even if it has already been called Russian, not only the body should rest, but also the soul!

Mirror sauna (USA)

The last unusual sauna on our list from most-beauty.ru is located in a deep forest near Saranas Gorge in New York State. It was developed by designer Dan Hisel, calling his creation “Cadyville.” One side of the sauna is adjacent to the rock, and the remaining external walls are covered with mirrors. The path leading to it is laid at such an angle so that the person walking is not reflected and does not notice his reflection. Finding a sauna in the forest becomes a real quest for tourists. You can stand next to her or look directly at her and not notice anything. Only the wooden frame of a small window seems to float in the air.

By the way, about the best places in the USA for tourism, read a very informative article on our website.

High-tech and techno in a bath style

Give free rein to your imagination and true Russian craftsmanship - and the most beautiful baths in the world from glossy magazines will be eclipsed!

How beautiful house facades are designed

Modern exterior design uses a whole arsenal of finishing coatings and decoration techniques to make the facade of a country mansion look neat and attractive.

Cladding options

Natural and artificial materials enhance the expressive effect.

Wooden slabs, planken, shingles. In addition to its decorative qualities, natural wood is an excellent heat insulator. Combines well with any other facing coating. To increase service life, it requires special care: impregnation against fungus, treatment against insects.
A natural stone. The most durable facade cladding. It is expensive, as is its installation. For this reason, stone coverings are often combined with brick, wood, and plaster - such facades look rich, solid and modern.
Clinker brick. Popular due to the variety of shapes and colors produced. Beautifully decorated brick houses can have contrasting grout joints and masonry in different colors.
Decorative plaster. One of the most affordable exterior finishing options. The coating is easy to apply and has a rich range of colors. But it is not able to resist the effects of severe frosts, dampness, and aggressive ultraviolet radiation for a long time. Needs frequent updating.
Facing panels. Composite materials (for example, fiber cement) imitate the texture of wood, stone, and metal. They make the facade unique and original at lower costs.
Combination. Combining several types of cladding at once is a good way to diversify the exterior. Wild stone looks great with smooth wood, embossed plank with smooth plaster, transom brick with vertical cladding boards.

Techniques for decorating a beautiful private home

The following will give the facades a complete look:

bright, eye-catching cornices, window frames, balcony railings;
the original shape of the window openings, emphasized by the layout of the profiles;
decorative framing of columns, towers, corners;
for classics - colonnades, pilasters, bas-reliefs, sandriks, pediments;
portal in the design of the entrance group.

An original way to decorate a cottage is to create a living wall of climbing plants on a special vertical grid. Of course, you will have to control the distribution of greenery and trim it in time, otherwise the vines will darken the windows. This way you can decorate balconies, cornices, terraces, then even small beautiful houses will acquire a luxurious look.

An important factor is evening façade lighting. Street lamps are mounted on the wall, suspended or built into cornices, and placed pointwise around the perimeter of the building. The overall mood of the exterior depends on their design, direction and color of the light flux. For the purposes of not only decoration, but also security, lanterns are installed above each entrance to the cottage and the entrance to the garage.

Panoramic glazing

Huge panoramic windows let a lot of light into the home, open up a wonderful view of the surrounding nature, and also look extraordinary. That is why they are so often found in the most beautiful private houses, designed in a modern style.

You need to choose façade glass according to its energy saving characteristics, thermal insulation and shockproof properties. Plus think about the internal heating system. Then in bright, sunny rooms with large windows it will be warm even in winter.