Tomtebo forest sauna

Where
Norrlandet, Gävle

Type of building
Sauna and guest house

Developer
Familjen Seitola-Gunnarsson

Architect
Meter Arkitektur AB through Bengt Carlsson
Pär Andreasson, Jesper Embring, Gustav Backström

Landscape architect
Lars Krantz, Wij Trädgårdar

Entrepreneur
Urfjället Bygg AB through Kaj Stefanius, Bo Törnkvist

Construction year
2008-2011

The narrow pavilion on the Norrlandet peninsula outside Gävle offers an experience that draws on forest huts and Nordic log cabins, 1970s recreation rooms, but above all the location itself and the century-old property with which it shares the plot. The building creates an architectural edge to the forest, where the solid wood structure sits lightly amongst the trees on site-cast concrete plinths. The solid wood panels also form the backdrop for the bathing experience, with a wooden deck of heartwood pine providing a link between inside and out, forest and sea.