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Christopher Selman is a co-founder of Out of The Valley, a line of bespoke British outdoor saunas made in Dorset. His forthcoming book Ridiculously Good Looking Saunasbrings together a group of projects that displays the breadth of craftsmanship, design, and performance in the category, and explores the culture of sweating it out from the global perspective of science, etiquette, and more. In the excerpt ahead, get a glimpse of five saunas we’d love to step into.
Not long ago, saunas were largely the domain of northern Europe, confined to Nordic lakeside cabins or the gym. Today, they crop up everywhere—on the beach, in parking garages, and even on board buses. A steamy revolution is underway, and it’s gathering momentum. In the last few years, hundreds of new sauna spaces have opened in the U.K., Australia, Canada, the USA, and elsewhere. From shacks with wood-fired stoves to contemporary urban bathhouses, the rise of modern bathing culture is impossible to ignore.
It could be said that sauna culture is just another wellness trend. When yoga first became popular in the West 20 years ago, the discipline had its fair share of critics, too. After the hype came the inevitable backlash. But eventually the long-term benefits became self-evident, and today yoga is practiced by millions. Now, the sauna is moving along the same curve. What was once fringe is fast becoming part of everyday life.
So whether in coastal towns, forests, cities, or out on the ocean, the sight of steam rising from a proliferating number of innovatively designed saunas is beginning to blossom. As a result, we are seeing a new culture of self-care and community emerge—one born from heat.
A Bespoke Sauna Studio Blending Design and Nature
From a workshop on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, a revolution in sauna design is unfolding. Here, Out of the Valley, founded by designer Rupert McKelvie, is reshaping the trade, prioritizing connection to the land, craftsmanship, and architectural integrity. What originally began in McKelvie’s off-grid cabin has evolved into one of the most respected sauna studios in the world.
Every Out of the Valley sauna begins with the question: How will the structure sit in its environment? What materials will “speak” the local language? With each piece made to order in the company’s Devonshire headquarters, the atelier’s process is a slow, deliberate antidote to mass manufacturing. Crafted from natural larch, cedar, and charred timber, with interiors lined in thermally modified alder, pine, and aspen, these saunas are designed for longevity and beauty.
Geometric Driftwood that Forms a Steam-Bent Shelter
A frame of white oak, cedar planking, and charred wooden siding: the floating sauna built by Michael Grundman of Timber Arched for the owners of the Sisu and Löyly spa unites craftsmanship with bathing culture. Case in point is its arched form, which alludes to the shipbuilding practice of steam-bending wood to create boat ribs—geometry now translated into the shape of this buoyant mobile bathing center located by Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Minnesota.
To be sure, structure and purpose are as one in this compelling design. The oak frame, for instance, provides stiffness and toughness, while the lightness and thermal properties of the cedar planks are present in both the hull and sauna interior. Externally, the hydrophobic properties of the scorched wood panels ensure weather resistance and low maintenance, its blackened surface recalling both burned driftwood and tarred hulls. Together, these materials deliver durability without ornament.
A Sauna Shaped by Tradition on the Atlantic Coast
The Lighthouse Sauna is a contemporary homage to Scandinavian spas and rural northeastern U.S. wooden architecture. Designed and built by Harbor Saunas, it is one of the manufacturer’s most popular models, its form drawn directly from the wood sheds, net lofts, and historic lighthouse stations that have long been a feature on Maine’s Atlantic seafront.
Similar to those typical structures, the Lighthouse Sauna is formally defined by its ability to withstand the elements. Its exterior is clad in locally sourced wood, treated with black linseed oil for water resistance, while its gabled silhouette is crisp and understated—much like the profile of the buildings that serve as its inspiration. Over time, these outer materials will weather and deepen, ensuring the sauna blends into its surroundings as it ages.
Floating Sauna Amid BC’s Coastal Forests and Tides
Positioned just above the tidal reach in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, the Nimmo Bay Floating Sauna emerges as a floating retreat where wood-centered design meets ecological reverence. Framed by old-growth spruce and resting on the still waters of a coastal inlet, the structure distills warmth, natural materials, and immersion in the wilderness into a neatly composed, contemplative form.
Originally conceived as a napkin sketch between collaborators at Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort and Canadian clothing label Anian, the sauna was developed through iterative local craft. The structure uses regionally sourced yellow cedar for the siding, decking, and framing, a type of timber selected for its resistance to moisture and its graceful weathering in the Pacific maritime climate. A second sauna dock was later added in response to demand, though both maintain a consistent architectural language: low-slung, rectilinear volumes with expansive picture windows that frame the shifting interplay of fog, forest, and light.
Modular Wooden Forms from Zlín Reflect Contemporary Czech Craft
From the industrial legacy of Zlín, a city in southeastern Czechia now known nationally as a tool-making center but once famous for its shoe factories, comes a striking contemporary interpretation of sauna design created by Czech multidisciplinary designer Adéla Bačová. Under the label What a Hut—an ongoing project, begun in 2022—Bačová has created a series of modular saunas that merge immaculate local craftsmanship, solid wood, and precise, computer-controlled fabrication.
Each sauna belonging to the project is constructed from spruce panels sourced from plentiful forests in the Carpathian Beskydy Mountains, around the medieval city of Prostějov, and from the Elbe River basin. Computer-controlled processing allows them to be machined with respect to exact requirements and dimensions, lending these saunas their distinctive clarity of line and meticulous attention to detail.
Ridiculously Good-Looking Saunas by Christopher Selman
