A good Finnish sauna is the sum of many factors. No single choice, not even the heater, guarantees success. Along with creativity, a broad and user-oriented perspective is needed to make the sauna an enjoyable space for bathers.
A high-quality and authentic Finnish sauna is carefully designed and built. Although there are many building methods and creativity can be used in design, anyone building or commissioning a sauna should understand basic sauna technology to avoid the most common design mistakes.
This results in a sauna where one can enjoy pleasant steam (löyly). A sauna that is pleasant to return to again and again. Such a sauna also best promotes the bather’s health and well-being, according to non-fiction author and sauna designer Lassi A. Liikkanen.
On the sauna designer’s desk: customer needs and a palette of four elements
Design starts with customer needs. In the case of a sauna, this means determining how many people the space needs to accommodate. A sauna should be an appropriate size, which also makes it energy-efficient and environmentally friendly.
According to Liikkanen, a successful sauna is created through choices related to heat, air quality, and the design of the steam room. When these are combined with an understanding of the sauna’s intended use, the prerequisites for success are met. A skillfully designed sauna serves as a good foundation for the sauna experience. Behind a simple and obvious result, there is often a great deal of consideration. A well-designed sauna is a long-term, sustainable investment.
A good sauna is easy to breathe in
Invisible factors are a crucial part of how a sauna functions. According to Liikkanen, managing air quality is the most difficult part of sauna design. “Because you can’t see air quality, it’s easy to forget. If air quality isn’t under control, you won’t get proper löyly, and you can’t stay in the sauna for more than a few minutes,” Liikkanen notes.
There are two main types of ventilation solutions: mechanical ventilation and gravity-based (natural) ventilation. There are clear, research-based recommendations for implementing mechanical ventilation. Fresh air is blown into the sauna above the heater, and circulated air is removed from under the benches. In modern implementations, Liikkanen encourages considering demand-based ventilation (for example, based on carbon dioxide levels) as well as heat recovery.
In the case of natural ventilation, following these same principles is more difficult. The solution is to use proven methods designed on a case-by-case basis. The wood-burning heaters used in Finnish cottage saunas help with this, but success should not be left to luck alone.
When all factors are right, sauna bathing is a pleasure. This pleasure ensures a high occupancy rate in both private and public saunas and justifies why a sauna is such a good investment.
Lassi A. Liikkanen
Sauna Designer & Author
- Provides sauna design and consulting services worldwide through FinnishSaunaDesign.fi
- Maintains Saunologia.fi, a website offering information to support sauna design
- Founder of Saunologia Oy, designing custom Finnish saunas around the world in collaboration with sauna architects
- Author of several books focused on sauna design and technology, translated into multiple languages
- Book Hyvien löylyjen salaisuus (Rakennustieto Oy, 2019) is a practical guide to sauna design
- English-language book The Secrets of Finnish Sauna Design (Culicidae Architectural Press, 2021) is a highly acclaimed reference, translated into Japanese and German
- Latest book Finnish Sauna (Maclehose Press, 2025) presents detailed methods for constructing modern Finnish saunas
This article is an excerpt from the Sauna from Finland “Authentic Finnish Sauna Experience Quality Handbook” (2020).
The book is available for purchase from Veico’s online store.
