During the construction of the Munch museum in Oslo, its authors, the architects Juan Herreros and Jens Richter, from Madrid Blacksmiths Studio, They followed the routine of going to the sauna every morning, before construction management meetings. It was close at hand: right in front of their building, at the mouth of the Akerselva River, there is a group of floating saunas promoted by the non-profit association Oslo Badstuforening (Oslo Sauna Association), each designed by a different architect. “We started a conversation with the people from the association, which is run by two women, one of them from Finland, which is the country that has the true tradition of saunas,” recalls Juan Herreros. “Her motto is sauna for the people, so the services are free, and they have 30,000 members who contribute a fee.” One thing led to another, and the association ended up commissioning them to design a sauna that would serve as an architectural icon for the complex. On May 15, a year and a half after that commission, the Trosten floating sauna was inaugurated, the first universally accessible sauna, according to its authors.
With its geometric morphology and optimistic colorism that combines aqua green and deep red, the modest construction has a capacity for 24 people and two wheelchairs. A unique steam recirculation system allows the users of these chairs to also enjoy it. “At the beginning of the project we did a little research on what would be the step forward that should be taken in the practice of the sauna, and we discovered that people with reduced mobility cannot practice it optimally, because the steam stays in the upper part of the room, while below there is only heat, and that is unrewarding,” explains Herreros. “So we designed a vapor recovery circuit that allows it to be released again from below, on the first level, where the chairs are. That is why it is, as far as we know, the first universally accessible sauna in history.”
The choice of the name of the sauna also comes from research: “Trosten” is what Norwegian calls the bird that in Spanish we know as a thrush or thrush. “All the saunas in the group have names of birds, and when we had to choose ours, we saw that the thrush migrates from Spain to Norway, and that in some places its arrival implies an omen of good luck,” says Herreros. “We think that the thrush evokes a more Mediterranean idea of relaxed contemplation of the landscape. But it also represented us, who were going to Oslo every two weeks for the construction of the Munch museum, so we had been there for quite some time doing the trick”.
![The modest construction has a capacity for 24 people and two wheelchairs. A unique steam recirculation system allows the users of these chairs to also enjoy it.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/QYRH7PVGE5FCDFYZQO7V4ZKY6A.jpg?auth=61edbeab6518e7ee7255d506c9bc210a18bb6f8135253bec78d66804d08d3900&width=414)
Since the progressive construction of the Oslo harbor promenade began, the relationship of citizens with the fjord has changed radically. Today, the walk allows you to walk without interruption for 10 kilometers, passing through areas that were previously used to store maritime transport containers, and where emblematic buildings such as the Opera (by the Snøhetta studio) or the Museum itself have now been located. Munch (from Estudio Herreros). “Before opening that Promenade“Oslo did not have a direct relationship with water,” says Juan Herreros. That is why he decided to give this element a determining value in the project: “The roofs of the other floating saunas around are like platforms from which people jump into the water, but we tilted it to turn it into a stand that would serve as a instrument of contemplation of the fjord. They say in the Association that the sauna is the only place left without cell phones. From there you can’t even send a WhatsApp, so it’s a place where time slows down. That’s why we designed this stand with deep steps, where you can lie down or chat with those around you, or simply contemplate the fjord. This gives value to its rediscovery in the city.”
![The sauna incorporates a small amphitheater facing the fjord that can accommodate around 50 people, designed for personal meetings and small events.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/OWMN6WWIXZEKLLIJ436SEWQGU4.jpg?auth=2a3bee068daca2ca3c95cd5c21924900277af549aeb8d51896fc0eec6831b8cc&width=414)
Emphasizing this use as a meeting point, the sauna incorporates a small amphitheater facing the fjord that can accommodate around 50 people, designed for personal meetings and small events. “It is an urban instrument for individual and collective use, which can host anything from a DJ session to a talk in a work group,” explains Juan Herreros.
The work also presents an ecological component due to the choice of materials. The structure is made of certified wood and the floor is made of large terrazzo slabs of Spanish origin, and the entire façade covering is made of recycled aluminum. “It is a metal that has a bad press from an ecological point of view, so we should not throw it away,” says the architect. “We have the obligation to reuse it again and again, as we have done here.” The wooden structure was assembled in a suburban dry dock, and then attached to the floating precast concrete platform on which the enclosures and interior elements were completed. Once finished, it was towed to the floating sauna area of the promenade.
On the day of the inauguration itself, as Herreros remembers, it didn’t take long for users to arrive: “It was inaugurated by the mayor of Oslo [la conservadora Anne Lindboe], who is very dynamic, and as soon as she finished her speech she took off her dress and jumped into the water.” Above all, this work is, for the Spanish architect, a small manifesto about the joy of living: “It has to do with brief pleasures, with moments of intensity of enjoyment, which allow us to face the problems that will undoubtedly arise during the rest of the day. I really like that with the minimum, with such a small and cheap thing, so much enjoyment can be achieved. Of course, once you have overcome the initial trauma of having thrown yourself into water at a temperature of 12 degrees.”
![The structure of the sauna is made of certified wood and the floor is made of large terrazzo slabs of Spanish origin, and the entire façade covering is made of recycled aluminum.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/YOJ3P3PHQJEVZGP6GDQ2NWCW2Q.jpg?auth=928249cdddc88c819991322ef2840b7b937f2cbcf6919d8dc0f0157ed9894525&width=414)
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