CASE
Rantaportin Sauna
Miniature of Rajaportin sauna in the shore of Pyhäjärvi.
Rantaportin Sauna is located in Tampere and it´s part of the Tahmela’s Villa, which is a late 19th century beauty on the shores of Pyhäjärvi and it is managed by the Pirkanmaa Building Heritage Association.
The sauna is inspired by the legendary Rajaportin sauna, one of the oldest public saunas still in operation in Finland. The idea and design of Rantaportti was developed by Alexander Lembke in co-operation with Santtu Virta (Carpenter, Piiru). Alex works as a heater in Rajaportti sauna and every day when he heated the Rajaportti he was thinking about Rajaportti´s design. How does the löyly flow? How does the ventilation system work? How does the heater work and how do other design decisions contribute to Rajaportti’s well-known and much appreciated löyly. “Of course, Rajaportti is unique and cannot be replicated, but I was thinking would it be possible to take some elements and incorporate them into a new sauna design that at least resembles the Rajaportti experience”, says Alexander Lembke.
Rantaportin sauna is built in the same way, only smaller, and it imitates the ventilation, bench arrangement, platform and Löyly pocket. The main differences are that Rantaportti is made entirely of wood, while Rajaportti is made of bricks, and that Rajaportti is pre-heated while Rantaportin is continuously heated. In both saunas, the stove is the most important thing for getting good steam.
“But as Rantaportti has less thermal mass than Rajaportti and is of course smaller, the IKI Original heater is the perfect choice. With about 360 kg of sauna stones and thus an enormous heat storage capacity, it ensures that the temperature remains constant both horizontally and vertically”, Says Lembke. He prefers to heat up Rantaportti slowly, “almost like Rajaportti, to make sure that both the stones and the walls are sufficiently warm. Once the sauna is hot, the IKI burns efficiently and uses very little Wood”.
Some of the stones used in the IKI stove are the same as in the Rajaportti stove, zirconia stones. In combination with Kerkes ceramic stones as the first layer and olivine diabas stones as the top layer they provide a long-lasting, smooth, fresh and 3-dimensional löyly (steam).
The design differs from Rajaportti’s in some ways, because a child always has to go its own way. For example, the walls of the sauna are black, similar to the walls of a smoke sauna. Although the sauna is located right by Lake Pyhäjärvi, a panoramic window has been left out to create a very quiet and peaceful atmosphere. But the löyly is made in the same way as in Rajaportti, by slowly pouring water onto the rocks with a large ladle. As it has been done for more than 100 years in Rajaportti, keeping the heritage alive.
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Info
Client: Rantaportin Sauna
Product: Original IKI
Year: 2024