There is buzz growing about the latest feature announced for the 2019 Burning Man festival. While the temporary “Black Rock City” attracts over 60,000 people from August 25th until September 2nd, people will be enjoying a traditional sauna experience in the middle of the Nevada desert. Every Burning Man sets up incredible marvels of engineering and architecture and fostering a sense of community among attendees. This year Finnish architecture and design collective JKMM is bringing the sauna experience to Burning Man in a big way.
From their website:
Burners with an ambition and curiosity for co-creation, volunteerism, positive spirit and inclusion of participants with diverse backgrounds; – by introducing the essence of Finnish mindscape in the physical form of a sauna pavilion at the Burning Man society in 2019… Just like saunas in Finland, Steam of Life -pavilion is about capturing the same ideal of a shared sense of humanity in a memorable and timeless way.”
The sauna will provide shade from the blazing desert light and provide shelter on the passage into the actual steam room. After the sauna the attendees will not have a cold pool on offer but a cool shaded atrium area to relax in at the center of the sauna.
This will not be the first major sauna at burning man, although it is the largest. In 2016 a traditional Russian Banya was created. Check out the documentary below.
Steamology at Burning Man 2016 from Mahyar on Vimeo.
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