Finland is so famously flat that Norway launched an online
campaign last year to give its neighbor one of its many peaks. But
what the country lacks in height, it makes up for with saunas:
There are 3.3 million of them, roughly one per household.
But when Loyly, a commanding new structure built along the edge
of the Baltic Sea, opened last week, it became Helsinki’s first
true public sauna. It has all the hallmarks of a true sauna, which
until now have been relegated to Finns’ homes: It is heated by
wood, features smoke and has an accessible body of water to jump
into at the end.
Jasper Paakkonen, a Finnish actor, avid environmentalist and
partner in the project, thinks of the shell-like design as a
“tunturi,” the Finnish word for something that’s between a hill and
a mountain (which stands out on the flat terrain). And the word
loyly translates as the steam radiating from the rocks
when you throw water on the hot stones in the sauna. In Old
Finnish, it also means “spirit” or “life.”
“Sauna is an essential place for cleansing and
purifying our minds and bodies,” Paakkonen says. “In Finland, it’s
not a luxury. It’s a part of everyday life.” No cellphones will be
allowed in any of the three saunas, as it’s generally considered a
quiet place where the Finns go to practice omissa
oloissaan, or aloneness with one’s thoughts.
The original design for the Avanto Architects project —
located in a formerly open stretch of land in Hernesaari, a small
peninsula in Helsinki that is transitioning from an industrial to a
residential area — was so ambitious, construction companies
wouldn’t even provide a quote. “We loved it so much, we tripled the
budget,” Paakkonen says, referring to Antero Vartia, his business
partner and a member of Finnish Parliament. The duo also worked
with Nextimber, a start-up technology that converts waste wood into
wood panels, to make the building as environmentally friendly as
possible. As a result, Loyly is the first project in Finland to
earn certification from the Forest Stewardship Council.
Vartia also oversaw the creation of an on-site restaurant that
takes design and energy-level cues from the Church Key in Los
Angeles. The menu features Finland’s most sustainable fare
(meatballs, salmon soup, reindeer); a large terrace extends over
the shoreline; and a set of stairs lead right into the sea.