Wooden cabin by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects houses a sauna in the Hudson Valley
A sauna is housed within this wooden hut by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects, which perches on a grassy knoll overlooking the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains in upstate New York (+ slideshow).
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
The boxy timber structure, comprising a sauna, changing facilities and a pump room for a hot tub is topped by a flat earthen roof. The ashen tones of the wooden planks that clad the exterior conceal a lining of burnt-orange timbers.
New York office Andre Tchelistcheff Architects designed the sauna for a plot on the edge of a country estate on the Hudson River in New York State. Situated against an existing retaining wall, the structure sits on a sheltered plot bordered by trees with views of the River and Catskills.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_7.jpg)
Grain silos, dairy barns and glasshouses surrounding a 1940s property on a 90-acre site litter the approach to the sauna, which the architects liken to an architectural folly.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
"We were asked to create a structure that did not intrude upon a site with early-20th-century barns, greenhouses, and a grand estate house from the 1940s," said the architects. "The sauna appears as an architectural folly of contemporary sensibility."
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
Long horizontal windows with copper lintels set above seating-level are used to frame picturesque views while maintaining privacy for the sauna users.
A strip of untreated bronze runs around the block at mid-level, creating a lip that shields the doorway and windows from the rain. Corten steel hutches enclose two chimney stacks on the earth roof, providing outlets for the sauna's stoves.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
An outdoor shower projects on a long arm from the facade, pouring water over blustone slabs that were found on the grounds of the estate and re-used to line the sauna's sunken entry area.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_5.jpg)
Inside, an entrance hall floored with soapstone doubles as a changing room. A row of clothing hooks are made from carved ebony.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
Two doorways open off either side of the hall to the sauna and a maintenance room.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
Bench seating made from orange cedar slats steps up the sides of the sauna room. Decked flooring and tongue-and-groove panels made from the same material cover the walls and ceiling to give the space a uniform appearance.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_11.jpg)
Pale wooden arcs with a laddered framework support users in a reclining position.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_10.jpg)
Firewood is stored in ipe wood boxes under the benches and in vertical stacks beside the sauna's twin stoves – one wood-burning and one electric – located on either side of the doorway. Large soapstone slabs back the areas behind the stoves.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
Lights are recessed into small oblong voids in the walls, on the door and beneath the seating.
![Sauna in the Hudson Valley by Andre Tchelistcheff Architects](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Sauna-in-the-Hudson-Valley-by-Andre-Tchelistcheff-Architects_dezeen_468_9.jpg)
A pump room on the other side of the structure houses maintenance equipment for an outdoor swimming pool and a new wooden hot tub, set on the hillside below the sauna.
Photography is by Seong Kwon.
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