Helsinki’s urban oasis: Iittala Brings the Finnish sauna into the city at Bob W Kamppi

What should a traditional Finnish sauna look like in an urban context, where it serves as a city sanctuary rather than a lakeside escape? That’s the question that Iittala is exploring with its new lounge on the top floor of Bob W Kamppi, a 1970s Helsinki office-building-turned-hotel. The heritage brand worked with Helsinki-based studio Koko3 to transform the space into a contemporary wellness hub. 

Called Iittala Sauna Lounge, it pays tribute to the building’s original structure and is characterised by bare concrete walls, tiles and copper, typical of late-modernist design. “We wanted to keep that brutalist roughness and strong character visible,” says Koko3’s Mari Relander. “The question was what to pair it with – something equally grounded in Finnish design but with a new voice and warmth.” The answer came in the form of solid pine furniture from local brand Vaarnii, whose heavy timber chairs and tables are designed to patina gently with use – a practical consideration, Relander notes, since guests move through the lounge fresh out of the sauna. “It’s meant to be a lived-in space,” she says. “People come in hot, barefoot, carrying water. The materials need to handle that. They’ll only get better over time.”

Relander and her team added warmth to the space with additional furnishings: a soft, textured Koti sofa by Stockholm-based brand Hem, handwoven Finnish wool rugs by Woven Works and classic Paavo Tynell lamps, which were originally designed for holiday resort Aulanko and have now been reissued by Danish firm Gubi. These subdued elements are meant to ease the transition from the heat of the sauna to the calm of the lounge. The adjoining terrace acts as a modern equivalent of the lakeside deck, offering a place to cool off. “The cooling space is always part of the sauna ritual,” says Relander. “Here it just happens to be in the city, not by a lake.”

Throughout the lounge, Iittala’s glassware and ceramics play a starring role, from Alvar Aalto classics and Tapio Wirkkala’s iconic Ultima Thule collection to new Solare vases. The collaboration signals a shift for the design house, which wants its pieces to be used beyond the domestic sphere. “This was a perfect fit for our mission, which is to inspire creativity and community by connecting people to innovative, purposeful and iconic designs in every room of the house,” says Iittala’s vice-president, Tove Westermarck.

True to its setting in a city-centre hotel, the Iittala Sauna Lounge embraces its inherent dualities: it is both raw and refined, communal and private, and nostalgic yet forward-looking. It’s not about replicating the forest sauna experience; it’s about extending the rhythms of Finnish tradition and social life into the fabric of the city. And perhaps that’s the point. Unlike what some locals believe, the urban sauna isn’t a contradiction but an evolution – a reminder that even in the heart of a busy capital, Helsinki’s people still find a way to pause, sweat and reflect.
iittala.com; bobw.co