Bronze A' Design Award Winner 2025
You are approaching three dark timber structures rising from a gravel and leaf-litter clearing within a sunlit deciduous forest, the architectural forms appearing as clustered vertical volumes clad entirely in charcoal-black wood siding running in narrow vertical boards from ground to peaked rooflines. Beginning from your left, the first structure is a tall slender tower perhaps four meters in height and two meters wide, its dark facade interrupted by a vertical slit window near the top and a horizontal rectangular opening at mid-height that glows with warm amber light from within, suggesting electric illumination or firelight. The wood surface feels visually matte and slightly textured, like weathered timber or intentionally charred boards that would feel rough and dry under your fingertips, with each narrow vertical plank creating a subtle ridge-and-groove rhythm across the exterior. Moving rightward to the center, a broader gabled structure stands slightly lower, its dark walls broken by a generous square opening positioned at sitting height that frames a white modern chair inside and reveals honey-toned wooden interior surfaces warmed by daylight filtering through other unseen openings. This central volume connects via a low horizontal passage to the rightmost structure, a lower rectangular pavilion with a flat or gently sloped roof extending further right, its dark walls continuing the vertical siding pattern and punctuated by smaller square openings. Warm golden-brown wooden decking extends like welcoming platforms from the bases of these structures, the deck planks running horizontally and appearing smooth and sun-warmed in contrast to the cool dark walls, suggesting the pleasant sensation of heated wood underfoot. The ground immediately surrounding the deck platforms is covered in pale gray gravel mixed with scattered brown leaves and organic debris, creating a transitional zone between architecture and forest floor. Behind and around these dark geometric forms, the forest rises in layers of slender tree trunks—birches and other deciduous species with smooth gray-white bark—their delicate branches creating an intricate canopy of fresh spring-green leaves that glow yellow-green and chartreuse where backlit by diffused sunlight filtering through the woodland. The light quality suggests late morning or early afternoon on a partly cloudy day, with soft illumination creating gentle shadows beneath the architectural overhangs and causing the vertical board grooves to appear as fine dark lines emphasizing the upward thrust of the structures. The overall atmosphere feels peaceful and secluded, a quiet forest clearing where these minimalist dark forms provide geometric order and human refuge within organic natural abundance, their simple rectilinear shapes and elemental black-and-wood palette suggesting spaces designed for contemplation, warmth, and withdrawal from complexity.
Trees grow endlessly upward, a concept reflected in the vertical exterior walls clustered around the sauna room. A spiraling path leads upward to a rooftop relaxation space, mirroring the building's form. The sauna entrance is at GL+250, the cold plunge deck at GL+1000, and the rooftop at GL+3250, so the transition from sauna to cold plunge to open air follows a vertical flow. Viewing the forest at treetop height allows one to share in its growth rhythm.