'ridiculously good-looking saunas' showcases 36 design-led thermal retreats worldwide

"The book frames the sauna as a shared spatial ritual that connects contemporary architecture with evolving social habits and a growing interest in more intentional ways of gathering. Through full-color photography and project documentation, the book traces the new generation of sauna architecture. Projects range from small mobile structures to sculptural public installations."

"Co-editor Christopher Selman, co-founder of the Devon-based sauna studio Out of the Valley, approaches the subject from both a designer's and traveller's perspective. Inspired early by the sauna rituals of his Finnish aunt, Selman spent a year visiting more than one hundred thermal spaces around the world, from Japanese onsen to floating saunas in Tasmania, tracing how the practice continues to evolve across cultures and landscapes."

"Among the projects featured is Sauna Bivak in Hungary, a minimalist mobile sauna raised on slender legs and clad in charred timber, designed to be easily transported and positioned along the Danube. In Sweden, the reflective forms a monumental ovoid volume composed of 69 mirror-polished panels that scatter reflections of the surrounding landscape."

Ridiculously Good-Looking Saunas, a 256-page publication edited by sauna designer Christopher Selman, documents the architectural and cultural revival of thermal retreats worldwide. The book features 36 projects ranging from remote wilderness structures to urban installations, including Sauna Bivak in Hungary, a reflective ovoid structure in Sweden, and Kengo Kuma's cypress spiral on Naoshima Island. Selman, co-founder of Out of the Valley studio, spent a year visiting over one hundred thermal spaces globally, from Japanese onsen to Tasmanian floating saunas. The projects demonstrate how sauna traditions are being adapted across different geographies and climates, framing saunas as shared spatial rituals connecting contemporary architecture with evolving social habits and intentional gathering practices.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine