This Swedish Sauna Is Shaped Like a Golden Egg

Written by

Kenya Foy
Kenya Foy
Kenya is a Dallas-based freelance entertainment and lifestyle writer who devotes most of her free time to traveling, gardening, playing piano and reading way too many advice columns.
updated Apr 30, 2019
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It doesn’t take much to convince us to spend time in a sauna. Seriously, who needs an excuse to sit back, sweat it out and let the stress melt away? Well, we’ve found a sauna that’s golden, egg-shaped and sits in the middle of a Swedish city, offering even more alluring reasons to indulge in some heat-assisted restoration.

Enter the SOLAR EGG, a dazzling art installation created by designers Bigert & Bergstrom. The duo’s eye-catching structure is their contribution to developer Riksbyggen’s urban transformation project for the city of Kiruna, Sweden’s northernmost town.

Needless to say, the ovalesque chamber couldn’t be further from your traditional sauna cabin. SOLAR EGG is made of stainless steel mirrors with titanium gold color coating that reflects the gorgeous Swedish landscape as well as the designers’ Arctic climate inspiration. The unique structure is composed of 69 separate pieces that can be disassembled and relocated. It stands 16 feet tall and 13 feet wide. Visitors can access the inside by way of a set of golden pull-down stairs.

The interior is just as captivating. It’s made of wood, including pine wall panels and floor decking and a bench made of aspen. Hidden lighting adds to the warm, inviting atmosphere. At the core of the egg sits a wood-burning, heart-shaped sauna stove made from iron and stone. The temperature inside the sauna ranges from 167 to 185 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s built to accommodate up to eight people at a time.

According to Contemporist, Bigert & Bergstrom were keen on presenting the glistening egg-like sauna as a representation of “rebirth and new opportunities.” Additionally, the egg was created as a spot for the locals and visitors to convene and discuss the town’s ongoing transformation, which stems from economical and architectural challenges brought on by the area mining industry.