Commissioned by Scandinavian real estate company Forenom, the architects decided to preserve several of the old bank’s architectural features as a kind of tribute to the building’s history, including the vault, which they felt it would remain an iconic feature even after the renovation was complete and the building no longer looked or felt anything like a bank. Today, it acts as a great conversation starter and an a piece of eye candy for those who love to indulge in a bit of nostalgia every now and then.

The modern Hostel Jyväskylä spans an area of 1,043 square meters and houses 49 beds, with rooms ranging in size from five to 18 square meters on the second, third, and fourth floors. The reception area can be found on the ground floor alongside space for restaurant and retail use. The basement level features one large restaurant, as well as the hostel’s spa and sauna facilities, which boast a jacuzzi that’s actually built into the former bank vault.

Inspired by Scandinavian design, the new interiors have been adorned with plywood furnishings all throughout, adhering to a minimalist standard to create a sense of openness and neutrality that’s perfect for relaxing after a busy day spent wandering through the city. Boxy plywood volumes reside in the three types of bedroom on offer (twin, small double, and economy double), all of which open up to a shared kitchen, living area, and bathroom.

Black, white, and wood are the hostel’s main decorative components, with the authenticity and spirit of the old building still running through all of it. The architects explain: “The walls and furniture are covered with domestic birch plywood and the floors in the lobby and bedrooms are linoleum. The hostel’s ecological choices, efficiency, and communality make for a fresh type of accommodation that is an interesting new addition to the service structure of the center of Jyväskylä.”

The hostel is located just four minutes from the city center, offering easy access to points of interest including Jyväskylä Bus Station, Market Square, Synergia-areena, Jyväskylä Harbor, Jyväskylä City Theater, and the Alvar Aalto Museum. All the rooms boast free Wi-Fi and a flat-screen TV with cable connectivity, and all of them provide direct access to the sauna in case you find yourself itching to unwind.

The reasonably-priced hostel offers an alternative travel experience for both businesspeople and backpackers. Its prime location makes it a great choice if you plan to do a lot of shopping but don’t want to struggle too far with your bags. On top of that, you’ll also save yourself the hassle and cost of getting taxis on a night out! The hostel prides itself on being able to combine the luxurious and the communal under one roof, which means anyone from anywhere is welcome anytime.

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Fresh Colors and Textures

The upgraded hotel is called °C (or Do-c) Ebisu — a name taken from the “degrees Celsius” symbol. Instead of trying to build something from scratch, the hotel’s designers opted to build off of the old Shibuya hotel’s existing design, updating its interior colors and textures and dedicating two of its floors to state-of-the-art saunas.

To overcome the dull beige color that dominated the capsules and hallways, the designers decided to install dark screed (a special mixture of cement, sand, and water applied to a concrete slab and finished for an attractive, even surface) flooring all throughout the hotel. They added depth and beauty to the walls with rustic plywood panels and cabinets. All accessories are simply designed, and the walls and floors of the saunas are all finished with a transparent fiberglass reinforced plastic, which itself is corrosion-resistant.

21st-Century Saunas

°C’s first and seventh floors are entirely dedicated to saunas, and they are definitely the most visually-pleasing part of the renovation. The hotel’s original saunas were Finnish imports, but they’ve since been upgraded to reflect the latest innovations in sauna technology.

Standard saunas typically have you expose yourself to extremely hot steam for a prescribed amount of time before diving or jumping into an ice cold pool of water. For maximum benefits, this process is usually repeated as many times as possible. The heat expands your blood vessels, and the shocking cold that immediately follows causes them constrict again, an involuntary reaction that allegedly restores physical balance and leaves you with an overwhelming sense of refreshment.

The saunas at °C provide a different, more evolved experience. Guests first go through a process called “loyly,” which is popular in Finland and provides the heat in the sauna. A faucet system called “Warm Pillar” then regulates the temperatures within, cooling things down over time rather than having you immerse yourself in an icy pool.
ninehours believes that the combination of retro capsules and ultramodern steam rooms will prove to be a great success, appealing to the constantly-growing part of the general public that craves more choices.

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Looking part hobbit hole, part concrete bunker on the outside, this grassy knoll disguises a surprising secret. You might approach the little square window in the door expecting to see one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s signature darkened interiors lined with deep-toned hand-carved wood and colorful carpets, but what greets you instead is a modern sauna, with curving built-in benches facing a fire. Spherical contemporary lamps hang from the textured concrete ceiling, and a floor-to-ceiling window on the back wall overlooks an apple orchard. It’s no less idyllic than anything that appeared in The Lord of the Rings, as if a wellness center sprouted up in 21st-century Hobbiton.

This sauna is the latest addition to the Apfelhotel Torggelerhof, a dreamy holiday destination tucked into the Italian Alps. Design studio noa* envisioned a building that acts as an extension to the garden, becoming a part of the picturesque landscape. The firm was commissioned to create the Applesauna, 9 new rooms and renovations to the existing structures adjacent to the orchard. A look at the floor plan reveals that in addition to the semi-circular sauna, the earth-sheltered structure contains a relaxation area, and a lower subterranean level appears to house shower facilities.

“For noa* network of architecture the starting point and key element of the design was the circle of the apple throughout the year: bloom, harvest, refinement and repose period. The new sauna and wellness area forms the period of repose,” say the architects. “It was essential to us to bring the charm of the surrounding garden and nature into the interior; different elements of the historic apple harvest inspired the design. The outer structure of the wellness building is totally green and is seen as a hill, which evolves into a mystical and intimate space at the interior.”

“The interior is kept pure and dedicated to the elegance of the materials. The earth-colored concrete walls pursue the lines of the wooden slates of the sauna benches and highlight the sloped form. Concrete lamps form the lighting of the interior. The big window opening allows the guests to enjoy the great view towards the surrounding nature. The spa area consists of a sauna with changing rooms and a shower on one floor as well as a relaxing space on the lower floor – always viewing the greenery of the apple trees.”

The relaxing ritual of sweating out toxins and water weight in a sauna is only enhanced by the unusual views of the apple trees in orderly rows, set against that dramatic mountain backdrop. The rounded design of the sauna, with functional space at its ‘core,’ is perhaps the most creative architectural interpretation of an apple that’s ever been built, subtly referencing its inspiration without turning to kitschy literalism. It’s a beautiful addition to the Passeier Valley hotel, which is itself a lovely combination of traditional Italian and alpine typologies.

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Nothing like a good schwitz to get through cold and flu season, right? Or really, anytime of the year if you’re Scandinavian or Japanese or Icelandic, or … Hey, we are missing out! We need a sauna. In a box. Such as the wood burning sauna box by Toronto-based design studio Castor, built right into an 8x8x8-foot reclaimed shipping container.

It’s conveniently self-sufficient with a wood-fired stove and solar panel. But wait, there’s more. It comes with – in perfect man cave fashion – an electric guitar hookup. In case you want to shred while dripping for your health. There’s also an awesome, hand-carved limestone stool, an iPod stereo, truck light and, oddly, bronze antlers. The interior is done in Western red cedar and red steel. Cost? $41,000.

Since it creates its own power, you can set the Sauna Box up wherever you desire: your off-the-grid plot of land, your suburban backyard, or your flat rooftop (weight considerations allowing). When not in use, you just lock it up, like any box.

This little beast is sold by Matter, a gallery, showroom and manufacturer in NYC devoted to not just scouting and selling stuff, but providing a “platform for an ongoing conversation about design by the design community and the public alike.”

We’d certainly like to have a conversation about the electric guitar!

“This traditional wood-burning sauna is built into a shipping container. The Sauna Box is completely self-contained with solar power and a wood-fired stove. The box comes standard with iPod stereo, guitar hook-up, Castor Stool, magnetic truck light, wool toque and bronze antlers. The Sauna Box can be customized to suit the site.”

“Castor Design was established 2009 in Toronto. Led by Brian Richer and Kei Ng, Castor Design is committed to innovation in design. Its work tests the limits of materials, both in terms of aesthetic and structural properties, blurring the line between the practicality of engineering and the indulgence of art.”

“Castor Design’s products involve thoughtful experimenting with process and techniques, finding new ways to use familiar materials. The Recycled Tube Light earned Castor their reputation for recontextualizing; the attention to narrative is maintained throughout their lines of lighting, furniture, and accessories.”

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Cooler weather is perfect for saunas, since plunging into ice cold water after a sweaty session is mandatory in many a traditional regimen around the world. Sauna design by the water was taken to new heights by Partisans Architects, who nabbed the 2015 OAA (Ontario Association of Architects) Best Emerging Practice and Design Excellence award for their spectacular Grotto Sauna.

While the Grotto Sauna, a project for a private client, who wanted a waterfront sauna escape from the city, was inspired by hidden Italian grottos, the structure in Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada, also brings together traditional Japanese elements and quintessentially Canadian influences.

The sauna’s smooth, curvy, sculptural beauty on the inside “emulates Lake Huron’s waves and mirrors the Precambrian shield—a soft, undulating rock surface that has been worn over billions of years.” In contrast, the sanctuary’s charred cedar exterior looks weathered thanks to the Japanese Shou Sugi Ban pre-aging method. The idea was to make it appear as though it had perched here for years and years. It’s a study in opposites: a sensual, intimate interior sheltered by a rather plain, rugged exterior looking perfectly at home and unobtrusive in its rocky and remote Georgian Bay island setting in northern Canada.

The space is sustainable, created with the help of 3D scanning technology to anticipate and reduce environmental impact.

Partisans was founded in 2012 by a Alex Josephson and Pooya Baktash and has been drawing attention for their variety of successful projects. As per their website, their mission is to listen, to transmute, to provoke and to create beauty, in their own words: to “build architectural narratives that elicit counternarratives—stories that spring to life through spontaneous mutations and unexpected cracks.”

Other Partisans projects include The Bar Raval in Toronto, the revitalization’s of that city’s Union Station, and Farmageddon, a rehabilitation project in the hills of Caledon, Ontario.

The post Sensuous and Sculptural: The Grotto Sauna first appeared on Dornob.

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A private client with a love of hotel-like luxury and, apparently, a very large interior design budget tasked interior architecture studio Lawson Robb with creating this glamorous underground spa. The spa occupies a subterranean location beneath a listed building in Mayfair, London.

The basement level of the 15,000 square foot residential development began as a maze of rooms. The architects segmented the rooms into distinct zones. A pool, a sauna, massage rooms, a steam room, and a walk-in jet shower all provide for a feeling of extreme luxury.

Creative lighting, vaulted ceilings, and use of mirrors make the underground space seem like a quiet, reverent space perfect for reflection. A glass bridge spans a central light well to bring natural light down into the space.

At one end of the spa, a backlit slab of onyx conceals the remote control pop-up bar. A secret stone stairway takes visitors through the wine cellar and up to the library above.

The classic stonework and rich teak strips are just a part of the overall stunning appearance of this unexpected oasis. The water itself lends an ethereal air to the space. Taken as a whole, it would be difficult to guess that this space is actually beneath ground in an historically significant building. It is hidden luxury at its finest.

“Hotel design has for a long time informed the interior design of homes. as more people travel the world, so they bring home global styles,” says Lawson Robb. “They also want to translate that hotel service into their own environments; if they can pay for comfort while on holiday, why not have the same at home?”

About Lawson Robb: “Design means extracting the DNA of an idea and seeing what can be developed from it. Each project has its own story to tell. It is a project’s identity that sets it apart, and our design schemes are not merged into the uniformity and trends of today. The success of the studio is attributed to the uniqueness of each design and bespoke approach to each project. Good interiors design is more than the way things look, it is about how the space is used, the person who inhabits it and enhancing the environment.”

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Stepping into a warm shower or steamy sauna is a terrific way to relax – and the Revolution shower cubicle from Carmenta lets you do both in high style. The Revolution is a small, self-contained spa-like enclosure that makes the most of its space and functionality. The Revolution combines heat, steam and water to make a self-contained wellness center.

Made to fit a variety of bathrooms, the unit comes in four sizes. All include a bench to sit or lie down on as you experience the relaxing water and heat, as well as a stool to prop up your feet or sit on. A music system lets you turn on your favorite soothing sounds while a chromotherapy system uses colored lights to enhance your mood.

One of the options available with the Revolution is a small television, letting you watch your favorite shows as you enjoy a steam or a shower. Despite containing so many features and different types of relaxation gadgets, the Revolution is compact enough to fit into any bathroom. Even the smallest of loos – or an outdoor space – can host the relaxing cabin, turning it from a small and boring part of the home into your own personal spa.

Carmenta offers a variety of ways to enjoy steam bath and sauna experiences, including the Dream Collection:

“The Carmenta Dream collection can be fully customised in terms of dimensions, materials and options, perfect for creating a private home spa. Corian, Onyx and Carrara Marble are just some of the materials that Carmenta uses in the production of its Turkish baths. To increase further the benefits of the Turkish bath, each cabin is equipped with a steam dispenser that releases aromatic fragrances and special LED systems for chromotherapy.”

“Carmenta allows you to customise also the sound in the wellness moment: in addition to the FM radio, each cabin has a Bluetooth system: in this way each session can be customised according to customer preferences.”

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It does not hurt to dream, though most of us might have trouble finding room for such a luxurious bathroom setup.

Duravit Inipi has a series of white, wood and glass sauna-and-shower combinations that can slot right into existing open spaces, like lofts lacking a master bath, for instance.

Intimacy is high on their design checklist, and privacy low, so again: it requires the right area in which to work, but would be a lovely way to relax if one had such a house or condo.

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