Koivikko Sauna Highlighted in New York Times Magazine

Koivikko sauna is highlighted in the New York Times Magazine in a feature on Finnish saunas by Michael Snyder with photos by Luana Rigolli.

The story was published in the online edition of the magazine on March 4, 2025. A version of the article appears in print on March 9, 2025, Page 88 of T Magazine with the headline: Forest Bathing.

• You can read the article under the title “Can a Finnish Sauna Improve Society?” in the online edition of The New York Times Style Magazine HERE.

Sauna as a Ritual

In the article, Michael Snyder provides an overview of the tradition of sauna building in Finland from its early history to the contemporary time. He discusses the architecture of modern time saunas through examples from Alvar Aalto to Reima and Raili Pietilä. Saunas by OOPEAA, Mattila & Merz and Tuomas Silvennoinen of PES Architects are highlighted as contemporary examples.

Referring to Anssi Lassila’s characterization of the sauna experience as ‘mentally washing yourself’, Snyder writes: “Equality, shared responsibility, mutual support — these values, cultivated in the sauna, are as essential to Finland, and to its sustainable future, as timber itself. For, more than being a building or a place, the sauna is a ritual.”

Reflecting on the role of sauna buildings in Finnish culture, Snyder notes that “Contemporary sweat baths reflect the country’s architectural past – and propose a future in which simple, sustainable buildings can still be sublime.” Quoting Anssi Lassila’s words: “The periphery is where change is happening”, Snyder remarks that Finnish architects “have pushed the possibilities of solid logs in sprawling schools and cultural centers.”

Using the work of OOPEAA as an example, Snyder notes that building with solid logs has inspired contemporary architects to design buildings with a distinct expression, not only for saunas but also for cultural buildings. “With its long, steep gable set low in the terrain, the sauna also resembles Lassila’s design for the Konsthall Tornedalen, an exhibition space that OOPEAA will start to build this year just over the Swedish border in Lapland”, he writes about the Koivikko Sauna.

Koivikko Sauna

Koivikko Sauna, completed in 2019, is a new addition by OOPEAA to the Aarne Ervi-designed Villa Koivikko outside Helsinki. Built in 1958, the boldly experimental modernist villa by Aarne Ervi was designed to represent the forward looking ideal of the modern times and it was equipped with the most advanced technical systems of the time. Despite the material and technical deterioration over time, the villa has not lost its strong aesthetic appeal.

To bring the villa up to contemporary standards, the main building and the caretaker’s house were restored. Three new wooden buildings were added to complement the brick buildings from the 1950s.

By the lake, the new sauna with a green roof seamlessly continues the contours of the steep sloping hill. It is built of logs with a tailor made joint. Complementing the green landscape, a garden with an outdoor barbeque kitchen is formed between an embankment wall built into the slope and the wooden log wall of the sauna. In the fireplace room, large windows opening in two directions create a sequence of visually connected spaces between the garden and the lake.

A wood-burning stove helps keep a dressing and resting area warm. A wooden pier forms a pathway to the lake for swimming. A covered outdoor space offers a place for storing the wood and loading the wood-burning stove of the sauna.

“Stained black and set into the base of a grassy slope, the timber structure looks sturdy and featureless, like a silhouette of the weightless glass-and-plaster home nearby”, Snyder describes the Koivikko Sauna.

Villa Koivikko – Bringing a Modern Masterpiece up to Contemporary Standards

The newly renovated Villa Koivikko demonstrates how new buildings can successfully be added to the context of a historically and architecturally valuable landmark. It creates something entirely new while simultaneously complementing the existing architecture and helping it maintain its functionality in face of the changing times.

The living space in the caretaker’s house was expanded and a new geothermal heating system was installed. The built-in garage was replaced by a free-standing car-shed, a new sauna was built in place of the old one, and a writer’s studio was built on top of the old stone cellar.

The contemporary additions highlight the special qualities of the original design. With a strong character of their own, the new buildings enter into dialogue with Ervi’s architecture. With their sculptural character, natural materials, dark outer shell, pitched roofs, and traditional building methods, they stand in stark contrast to the strong horizontal lines, white surfaces, flat roofs and modern building techniques of Ervi’s buildings. Clad with traditional tarred shingles, the car-shed and the writer’s studio take on a strong presence. Yet, treated with dark natural paint or tar, they withdraw from the center of attention almost blending in with nature.

• A description of the project to restore and renovate the Villa Koivikko can be found HERE.