Built forms can offer protection from the elements, invite contemplation or even deepen our awareness of the wildness around us. A bench where steam meets sea breeze. A window framing the horizon. A jetty that dares you to plunge.

Nestled along the icy shores of the Baltic Sea, Helsinki’s sauna culture is a time-honoured tradition that continues to thrive in the heart of Finland’s capital. As home to the most saunas per capita anywhere in the world, here, the use of saunas is embedded into the fabric of the city itself.