Modern Sauna Interior

We brought some graphic clarity and warm tone to the sauna with the benches made from wide alder planks.

The customer had spotted the modern sauna seating we had made for our customer, and they wanted something similar in their sauna department as well: something graphic, wide planks for the benches, and wall panels from warm-toned wood material.

That was the starting point for Miikka to design the sauna seating to fit that particular space. The seating rises on two walls and the door is placed in the center of the front glass wall. Especially with a full-width wall made of glass, the sauna seating is an inseparable part of the bathroom interior. The seating is fixed except for the two centermost pieces that can be taken off for cleaning. All the joints are pegged and mitered. The stove from Tulikivi is partly hidden.

The material we suggested was heat-treated black alder, 160 millimeters wide for wall paneling and 190 millimeters wide for the benches. We chose alder not only because of its nice, warm tan color, but also because it can be locally sourced. For alder it’s enough to treat it with paraffin oil, and new coating can be easily applied when the benches start showing any signs of use.

The sauna is lighted with led strip lights that were placed in the alder panel “chutes”in the ceiling.

Even though the design is somewhat similar than in the sauna we made before – with modifications, of course – you can clearly see how a different wood material in a different space make the end result very, very different. What we especially value is that saunas are more and more seen as pieces of furniture, not just plain items of use 🙂

Design: Miikka Kotilainen | Woodartist
Woodwork: Puuartisti
Photos: Joona Kotilainen