ONE+ Sauna House

Para nosotros, el sauna significa un espacio para limpiar el cuerpo y el alma. En un sentido literal, los poros se abren y nos deshacemos de todas las impurezas. Se utilizan ramas de abedul para penetrar la piel y aumentar el flujo sanguíneo. En un sentido espiritual, es como la meditación y como muchos otros rituales.
En primavera y en verano se alterna entre estar sentado en la sauna caliente y darse un chapuzón en el mar – en invierno en su lugar rodamos en la nieve. Es muy importante que el uso de la sauna sea agradable y divertido - no es una competencia para ver quién resiste más el calor. El ritual del sauna dura un par de horas de principio a fin.

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

ONE+ Sauna House

– I asked Susanne and Sven:

Why a sauna, of all things? To me a sauna is in the same class as a banquet room, a sad reminder of the 70’s and 80’s. But Svenne and Susanne were able to change my mind:
To Svenne, a sauna is simply vital. More precisely, it is just as important as a kitchen, a bedroom and a bathroom when discussing what’s needed. Svenne is Swedish, but his mother is Finnish, and with a Finn there’s no way around the sauna.
To Susanne, on the other hand, the sauna is a revelation that symbolizes a rediscovery of basic values, a connection to nature, slow, simple, poor and humble. Susanne is Danish, but has earned her appreciation through marriage.

Together with Svenne’s family, Susanne and Svenne have a summer house in the archipelago of Stockholm, and when Susanne describes what the summers there have given her, and what they mean to the family (Susanne, Svenne and their two children), you understand at once that this was a very special insight and that the primitive life on the island is the greatest luxury she has ever known.

On Uvö, the water is fetched from a communal well, pumped by hand, and getting water can take a long time even though it’s only a walk of five minutes. News must be exchanged with the neigh- bours along the way,there are blueberries to pick and mushrooms to collect.
Other daily chores are just as simple: fishing, baking, chopping wood, boiling jam…
The luxury that is so beneficial is just doing everything yourself and letting things take as long as they take.

And they sauna – in the talk about Uvö, the sauna plays a central role, one that I sense is almost symbolic. Susanne again:
The sauna on Uvö has both a practical purpose – it is the bath facility of the house – and a more spa-like and meditative use. Before we can use the sauna, or shower, the fire must be started, and it takes between 30 and 60 minutes before the sauna is warm and the warm water is ready.

To us, the sauna means cleanness for body and soul. In a literal sense, your pores open up and you get rid of all impurities; we use birch branches to beat our skin and increase blood flow. In spring and summer we alternate between sitting in the sauna and getting warm, and taking a dip in the ocean, and in winter we roll in the snow instead.

In the spiritual sense, the many, slow rituals are like meditation. It is very important that using the sauna should be pleasant and enjoyable – it is not a competition about who can stand the most heat. If you’re too hot, you open the door or go outside for a while. A full sauna ritual takes a couple of hours from start to end.

With the new ONE+ sauna module from Add a Room, Susanne and Sven share the very very best they know, so please welcome www.addaroom.eu.