This Swedish Golden Egg-Shaped Sauna Is the Ultimate Outdoor Meeting Room
Artists Bigert and Bergström call it a "social sculpture", a space for locals to discuss their town problems.
Board rooms are so done. Stockholm-based artist duo Bigert and Bergström have built a modal, stainless golden steel, reflective, egg-shaped sauna with a heart-shaped wood burning stove, named the 'Solar Egg'. Why? Commissioned by Swedish economic and real estate association Riksbyggen, the egg is a "social sculpture" according to the artists, providing a communal space for the residents of Kiruna to discuss their town's problems.
Kiruna is the northernmost town in Sweden with a population of just under 20,000. In 2003, they realised that due to adjacent iron ore mining activity (activity which provides thousands of jobs for locals), the ground beneath the town was becoming unstable. The solution? Move the whole town three kilometres away. The relocation has been underway ever since and will continue to trudge along, piece by piece, for many more decades supported by the government and the mining company responsible.
So, the residents of Kiruna have a lot to talk about while enjoying a sauna together. And, like the town itself, the golden egg can be disassembled and relocated. As far as interactive art installations go, it's both acutely beautiful and functional, with stainless golden mirror sheeting reflecting the fragmented, changing scenery of the surround mountains and tundra. Inside, the sauna's interior is made of pine wood panelling and decks, and aspen benches, with an iron and stone stove in the centre. Temperature varies between 75 and 85 degrees Celsius in the egg.
Images: Riksbyggen and Futurniture.
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