ARCHITECTURE AND ARTWORK
At the very edge of the breakwater in Ulkopää/Ytrebyen you will find Horisontti Sauna. This is an architect-designed gem with panoramic views to the south, consisting of two rectangular building volumes of different sizes connected by an open central passage. The form of the buildings is site-specific and draws inspiration from the historic sea sheds located along the shoreline further in. These sea sheds are a distinctive building type for the area and were not affected by the devastation of the Second World War. The sauna is a quiet tribute to the sea sheds, highlighting the importance of everyday structures that are often overlooked and forgotten.
The two buildings on the breakwater accommodate the sauna’s key functions: the warm sauna room with stove and the possibility of löyly/steam, and a relaxation room where visitors can change, shower, and spend time between steam sessions. A bathing ladder on the inside of the breakwater provides access to the cold Arctic Ocean, and a fire pit in the area around the ladder and the relaxation room makes it possible to sit outdoors year-round for the warm-blooded type.
VADSØ
THE SAUNA CAPITAL
Vesisaari (Vadsø’s Kven and Finnish name) is a town with long historical roots as Norway’s sauna capital. Sauna is both a building type and a social practice, often associated with the cultural heritage of the national minority Kven/Norwegian Finns. Today, Kvens are a minority, but at the end of the 19th century they made up the majority of Vadsø’s population. In the past, there were several public saunas around the town where people bathed together at set times. Varanger is an area with limited access to timber, so a shared sauna was, in addition to its social role, a way to make the most of scarce resources.
Over time, private saunas replaced the unifying function once held by the communal sauna. Horisontti Sauna aims to breathe new life into this tradition and once again create a gathering place for the town’s residents and visitors.
THE ARCHITECTURAL EXPRESSION OF THE SAUNA
The new sauna in Vesisaari/ Čáhcesuolu/ Vadsø is designed by studio HALLSTEIN at Zoe – Yan Zou, Petr Tuma, Bo Peng, Junjia Yu, and Hallstein Guthu. The project also involves close collaboration between Guthu and the artists Benedict Beldam and Åsne Kummeneje Mellem. Beldam and Mellem developed integrated artworks produced with support from KORO (Public Art Norway) and curator Monica Milch Gebhardt.
Together, this trio(Hallstein, Beldam and Kummeneje), all with strong Kven connections, has created a cohesive and unique sauna experience combining art and architecture 140 meters out into Varenkinvuono/ Várjjatvuotna/ Varangerfjord. The works visitors encounter connect a wide range of historical references to the town, Kven building traditions, Kven culture, and the sauna as a place of healing.
Horisontti Sauna is spectacularly located and serves as a clear landmark, seemingly floating between sea and sky. The architectural expression is restrained and unpretentious, reinforced by strong horizontal lines in the black cladding and untreated elements resting on the roof structure. The cladding is treated with a charred surface, broken only by the front-facing windows and doors in lighter wood that will weather to grey over time.
The access walkway leading up to the sauna breaks up the longitudinal lines with fence posts that draw the eye vertically and guide visitors toward the building, the sea, and the horizon. This central passage also gives the public access to the breakwater and the opportunity to experience parts of the buildings and artworks without booking the sauna. Inside, both the sauna room and the relaxation room are clad in light-colored paneling. Large front-facing windows offer views of the fjord while preventing views in from the breakwater and nearby buildings.
INTEGRATED ARTWORK
Healing, community, and space for reflection are shared themes in both the architecture and the artworks that make up Horisontti Sauna. In different ways, they offer visitors the opportunity to open up conversations about the bodily, spatial, and linguistic aspects that are important when bathing and using a sauna.
In the ceiling and on the exterior front of the relaxation room, a text installation by Benedict Beldam is integrated into the wooden ceiling. The work, titled Vesi oon vanhin / Eldst er vannet eldst (“Water Is the Oldest”), consists of Kven poems painted with tar onto untreated pine boards. It is inspired by a feminist approach to Kven cultural history. The tar used in the work is made from resin from a 300-year-old root, produced through collaboration across generations between Beldam and the artist’s father.
Tar has historically been a vital material for treating wood, and the process of producing tar is itself a collective, knowledge-based practice requiring people, time, and access to roots. The tar text in Horisontti Sauna is based on folk poems about healing burn injuries and advice for reducing subsequent pain. The text is adapted to the Kven dialect used in Varanger. In gendered words, the letter X is inserted to create space for complexity. This strategy challenges the gender divisions associated with sauna traditions—where different bodies bathe separately—as well as linguistic structures that shape how we understand and think about our surroundings.
Works by Åsne Kummeneje Mellem are installed at several locations on the exterior of the buildings. Kiilu consists of narrow, horizontal brass plates attached to the cladding in various places, formats, and heights. The plates are first hammered against stone, then against the cladding, where they follow the repetitive forms of the wood. The surface of the material captures reflections and atmospheres from the surroundings of the breakwater, creating visual focal points within the architecture.
Brass is a carefully chosen material, as in Sámi tradition it has a protective function, metaphorically guarding people against mishaps in and around the sauna. Mellem has also decorated the doors to the sauna room and the relaxation room with burr wood and brass inlaid as door handles, titled Kuttu 1, 2, and 3. The burrs are shaped and polished, embodying a pragmatic aesthetic and a user-friendly grip. Such a physical encounter with art allows guests to experience a creative handle partly shaped by nature itself. A polished pine branch, also fitted with brass, serves as the door handle connecting the relaxation room to an outdoor west-facing balcony.
