A Simple Little Sauna Shed On A Sled Sidesteps Local Planning Rules In Finland...

London based Denizen Works designed this very cute sixty four sq ft sauna shed on a sled.
Their client in Aland Finland had tried for years to get planning permission for a sauna on their land by a lake. Knowing that the planners allow mobile structures DW designed the sauna shed on a sled which can be slid onto the frozen lake in winter months.
A hole is created for the sauna users to brave the icy waters. Tiina Tervo shot the images.
Tiina perhaps you'll take some more of the interior with the fire going...

It's A Saunalautta. A Floating Sauna In Finland. What More Could You Want...

A couple of years ago, a group of friends in the city of Joensuu in Eastern Finland got together and made themselves a very different sort of pleasure craft, the ultimate floating sauna,
known as a Saunalautta.
What an idyllic way to relax. Lie in the sun in a hammock, jump into the very cold water and if you survive, get right back in the sauna and then you jump in the lake again. You've got the idea.
And this floating pleasure raft is available for rent should the idea of a holiday in Finland appeal to you. And why not. Joensuu is located at the mouth of the Pielisjoki River on the very beautiful Saimaa Lake system.
But you might build your own floating sauna.
What more could you want...

A Crazy Coincidence And A Chance Meeting...

Hello I'm Kim from Finland and I've been following your blog for two years he said, standing there smiling in the morning sun.
The Flying Tortoise was back at Ahipara for some kite fishing and hopefully a few flounder.
I first saw you on Lloyd Kahn's blog and then I found yours.
Imagine me sitting at my desk in Finland, 25,000 kilometres away, it's winter and I look out the window and see a carpark.
I look at your blog and I see sunshine, sea and beautiful landscapes. 
Wow it was inspiring, and so here I am.
When I came to New Zealand I had this crazy idea that we might meet and when I saw your bus sitting here I nearly drove off the road. 
I'm so glad you didn't and that we did said I, equally amazed at someone arriving and telling me they've been following the blog for two years and in part inspired by it, here they are.
Kim's an industrial designer in Helsinki, has been travelling with his girlfriend from Finland, through Siberia, Russia, Japan, Bali, Malaysia and Thailand and now New Zealand.
Soon it's back to Finland for Kim to replenish his travelling fund, build a campervan and then one day he and his girlfriend will return to Aotearoa, the Land Of The Long White Cloud.
Perhaps they'll stay...

No Building Permits Required For This Tiny Cabin In Finland...

A secluded little cabin in the woods brings to mind Henry David Thoreau living freely as he did in Walden, without society's bureaucratic restrictions.
This modern micro-cabin built beside a lake in Finland escapes the Finnish building regulations because of it's 96 square foot floor space.
Robin Falck, the owner, built it almost entirely with recycled materials.
You can see more about it here.
A man's home is his castle,
no matter how small...