The heat is on: mobile sauna heralds a new breed of experimental hot boxes

Thanks to a mobile sauna, after a long day of lectures, students at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design can treat themselves to a session sweating, chatting and chilling on campus. It’s the brainchild of product design students Friedrich Gerlach, Sophia Reißenweber and Emil Löber and was inspired by the university’s location in the German town of Halle.

Step inside this mobile sauna

The sauna holds three people – five if you want to get cosy – and is made from polycarbonate, which means it only weighs around 300kg and can be dragged like a giant wheelbarrow to an ideal spot. These are plentiful since the campus is on the River Saale which is perfect for rinsing off.

And though the sauna looks cool, it definitely doesn’t feel it. Inside temperatures reach 110 degrees centigrade and Gerlach and his team ‘put tons of pressure on the stove to test the resistance of the polycarbonate, which shrinks and stretches when it’s heated. It moves so much, screws would have caused it to rip, so we welded all three layers to a steel frame.’

One year on, the sauna is still going strong. It’s free to use; bathers simply feed the fire (from the outside, minimising mess and maximising space), make a donation, and clean up after themselves. And this being Germany, everyone is naked, but the translucent façade ensures bodies inside are mere silhouettes.

When it draws too much attention (which it often does), it can be towed away by eager bathers to a more secluded spot. ‘It would be very cool to manufacture it and take it on tour,’ says Gerlach, who sees his sauna as a ‘playful rebellion that challenges the status quo and brings a space of calm and care to the heart of the city’. 

While a ‘plastic’ sauna may not sound plausible, these low-cost, lightweight sweatboxes are a popular option with handy types who like to experiment. In the UK, carpenter and sauna fan Jamie Holden built himself a see-through sweat box in his garden in Sea Palling, Norfolk, and Michael Antoniuk of Aspen Saunas has installed his first polycarbonate sauna and cold plunge on a farm in Oxfordshire.

And in Norway, Estudio Herreros, the architectural firm behind Oslo’s Munch Museum, has created a floating sauna in another unlikely material – powder-coated, recycled aluminium. It was commissioned by the Oslo Sauna Association and is yet another design-facing sweatbox on the city’s fjord. Such is the popularity of hot and cold contrast therapy in the city that the royal family even turned up for the opening.

With these new approaches to an ancient art, sauna is finding fresh converts who are drawn by its invigorating blend of wellness, relaxation and social bonds. 

Emma O'Kelly's book, Sauna: The Power of Deep Heat, is available from Amazon

FriedrichGerlach.de

Sophia-Reissenweber.de

@Emil.Loeber

SaunaBox.co.uk

AspenSaunas.com

EstudioHerreros.com