a garlic-shaped sauna and life on a leaf: inside jan-erik andersson's liveable artworks in turku

bridging visual art, nature, and architecture

A study in the relationship between visual art and architecture, and between a home and its natural surroundings, Jan-Erik Andersson’s practice envisions the idea of an inhabitable Total Artwork. The Finnish artist’s Life on a Leaf, Spruce House, and Sounding Dome Sauna in Turku explore how contemporary architecture should deviate from prevalent principles of rationalism and conformity to fulfil, sustain, and become ‘complete’. Instead, Andersson looks to the iconicism of the 19th century Arts and Craft movement and the ornamentation and organic forms of Art Nouveau, alongside the wonder of fairytales. ‘As an artist who grew up among Modernism, I have asked myself one question many times: why do we not see, in the midst of the stylish, yet aesthetically cold, box-shaped buildings, one single house shaped like a flower, hat, or shoe?’ he says.

Nature, fantasy, and the element of surprise are then transformed into the foundation of his works. Life on a Leaf, like its name suggests, forms upon a leaf-shaped plan intersected by a Brazilian ferry. A glass dome conservatory reminiscent of a bluebell crowns its peculiar shell, flower-shaped windows frame views of the outdoors, and various nature-inspired details are scattered across the interior. The house was conceived in 1999, materializing Andersson’s doctoral thesis and serving as his family home until it was recently converted into an artist residency. The artist now lives across the wooded plot in the equally whimsical wooden Spruce House which continues looking at the role of nature as metaphor and ornament, shaped on one of the most basic natural forms: the honeycomb’s hexagon. The Sounding Dome Sauna sits between the two homes like a large, yellow garlic bulb. Immersive and sculptural, it doubles as a musical installation with soundscapes activated when water is thrown on the heater. Together, the trio of structures question: ‘Can you live in a picture or a sculpture?’

all images courtesy of Jan-Erik Andersson unless stated otherwise

jan-erik andersson realizes Life on a Leaf as a total artwork

Life on a Leaf is a house based on stories and representational shapes, drawing on the playful object-shaped houses from Elsa Beskow’s children’s stories. Following his doctorate, Jan-Erik Andersson planned the design with architect Erkki Pitkäranta, manifesting the ecologic dimension of dream, the imagination, and the Iconic Space — ideas stemming from the Arts and Crafts movement.

With curving walls, intricate mosaics, and eclectic furnishings the yellow house is a blend of iconic references, uniting the constructivism of Kurt Schwitters, ornamental geometries of Antoni Gaudi, vibrant shapes of Hundertwasser, and more. Conceived as a vast sculpture — a Total Artwork with an open plan area of 147 square meters — it poses that art is not something ‘glued onto’ a building after its completion but is integrated into its entire design. ‘[Here], art is a window shaped like a water drop, an opening in a wall in the form of a needle, a poem on a door, a laminated digital photograph as a kitchen worktop, and an indoor sound installation that reacts to the changes of wind and light outdoors,’ Andersson writes. The artful details are custom contributions by 20 of the artist’s colleagues and his family, supporting his ideology that spaces must tell the tales of those who inhabit them.

Jan-Erik Andersson explores the relationship between art, architecture, and nature | image by designboom

Sounding Dome Sauna creates an immersion of steam & music

The Sounding Dome Sauna was created in collaboration with American sound artist Shawn Decker during Turku’s European Cultural Capital 2011 activities. While recalling the Orthodox church cupolas in Russia, it follows Andersson’s vision to bring iconic, stylized forms from nature into the built environment. Inside the fiberglass envelop shaped like a garlic bulb, heat, steam, and sound engulf sauna-goers from all around.

A soundscape is driven by heating and cooling cycles with separate sounds for each, ranging from meditative hums and gushes of wind to the wilder rumbles of machinery and large ship horns. The sounds are emitted from the top or filtered down inside each of the garlic cloves which act like acoustical parabolical reflectors. In the summer of 2011, the sauna welcomed visitors as it sat beside an outdoor swimming pool and has since hosted various activations and been the subject of several documentary series.

Sounding Dome Sauna was created during Turku’s European Cultural Capital 2011 activities | image by designboom

figurative elements transition the outdoors into Spruce House

With the 74-square-meter Spruce House, constructed in 2023, Jan-Erik Andersson and Erkki Pitkäranta generate a gradual transition from the outdoors in with a range of figurative artistic elements. Shaped from wood, the green house features a hexagonal shape which the artist emphasizes largely affects the atmosphere within. Eschewing right angles, the unconventional floor plan achieves a natural rhythmic movement and enjoys light from six different directions.

Here, Andersson draws upon the neoclassical exteriors of the 1920s and 30s, which were often adorned with small sculptures. With planning and participation funded by a grant from the Kone Foundation, five of the six corners of the house’s facade are marked with artworks by renowned creatives. Inside, glass sculptures adorn the ventilation pipes, cartoon comics are inscribed into the wood above the toilet seat with a heat pen, and silhouettes of trees are carved into metal panels. The house’s design was completed around a red two-meter diameter table, which now sits on ground floor encircled by ten black Philippe Starck chairs. Bearing collages of burnt temples it encapsulates the theme around which the interior is designed — the fire — echoed across the flame silhouettes in doorway and kitchen. A lighting fixture above the table creates a luminous halo, gently illuminating Andersson’s ceiling print of the sky.

it doubles as a musical installation with soundscapes activated when water is thrown on the heater