Beaverbrook Sauna

MDB worked with the Beaver Brook community and participants of Beaver Brook School 2013 (a program offering instruction in traditional building techniques) to design and construct this sauna overlooking the property’s stream. The exterior of the building is clad in shiplap pine, stained black with a traditional Finnish blend of pine tar and linseed oil. Bathers enter into a changing room which houses the sauna stove, custom built by New York fabricator Rob Licht . This arrangement keeps the main sauna chamber clean. (In the past, Finns used their saunas as birthing rooms since they were the cleanest spaces in the community). The main sauna room accommodates 12 people comfortably on two tiers of clear cedar benches. The room’s lower level benches and floor panels are removable for easy cleaning. A six-feet-square insulated picture window submerses bathers into the woods and glows like a lantern in the dark forest.