burning man 2019 offers festival-goers a finnish sauna experience

the steam of life pavilion, built at burning man 2019, offers festival goers the experience of the traditional finnish sequenced sauna in the form of a deconstructed art installation. designed by JKMM architects together with sauna on fire collective, the timber pavilion embodies the typical physical elements of a finnish sauna. it comprises a minimal, human-scale wooden building which embraces natural ambient light and shade contextualized in the annual gathering within a hot desert environment. the design team took influence from the traditional ‘sauna,’ the only finnish word adopted by the english language and a common comparison used in finland to describe desert hot conditions.

all images by hannu rytky

co-designed by JKMM architects and sauna on fire, the pavilion offers an atmospheric sequence influenced by the typical saunas found throughout finland. a passageway guides visitors into the circular sauna pavilion, shielded from the harsh desert light. visitors first enter a low-lit passageway that leads to the ‘löylyhuone’ steam room — the heart of a finnish sauna — with wooden benches and the ‘kiuas’ stove. after enjoying a sauna, visitors will enter a softly-lit space opening onto a centralized atrium yard. in the absence of an icy cold natural body of water, this atrium yard offers a shaded oasis for cooling down and meditative relaxing. like saunas in finland, the steam of life pavilion at burning man encapsulates the shared sense of humanity in a way that is memorable and timeless.

‘in finland we are all very proud of our sauna culture,’ says samppa lappalainen, architect and CEO at JKMM. ‘it’s therefore a real honor for our design team to share a genuine, purifying, and meditative sauna-experience with the daring and curious audiences at burning man. so, I’m super excited to see the reactions and hear the feedback of guests to our sauna pavilion.’

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project info:

title: steam of life pavilion
architecture: JKMM architects, sauna on fire

exhibited at: burning man 2019

event dates: august 25th — september 2nd 2019