White Arkitekter has completed a bathhouse on the southern coast of Sweden, featuring a timber-clad structure perched on slender legs that extend outwards towards the rear to optimise sea views.
The Scandinavian studio designed the bathhouse for a group of local sea-bathing enthusiasts from the coastal town of Karlshamn, who raised funds to commission the project.
The Kallbadshus, or cold bathhouse, is a building typology commonly associated with Sweden, which provides users with convenient access to the sea for swimming or cooling off after a sauna.
Local organisation Kallbadhusets Vänner, or Friends of the Bathhouse, was helped by local sponsors and the municipality to realise its vision for a year-round bathing location close to the existing public swimming pool.
The bathhouse rises three metres above sea level. It is reached from the adjacent beach promenade by a bridge supported by two beams made from glulam timber – a type of engineered wood.
White Arkitekter wanted to give the building a modern aesthetic to differentiate it from some of its more traditional predecessors in other Swedish towns.
“The enticement lies in the fact that it isn’t a traditional bathhouse with romantic gingerbread work,” explained project architect Sven Gustafson, referring to the country’s vernacular architectural style.
