Co-creating Seurasauna
Seurasauna is being developed through an open and collaborative process. We believe that a successful public sauna should be shaped together with the people and communities who will use it.
Through workshops, discussions, and participatory planning processes, local residents, sauna enthusiasts, and other stakeholders have contributed ideas, experiences, and perspectives to the development of Seurasauna. This collaborative approach helps ensure that the future sauna reflects diverse needs while fostering accessibility, inclusion, community, and a sense of shared ownership.
The unique seaside setting of Seurasaari attracts hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors each year. At present, however, there is no opportunity to experience living sauna culture on the island. As the vision for a new public sauna has developed, an important focus of the co-creation process has been to bring together different perspectives, needs, and hopes for the future of the area.
To support this work, Seurasauna Association organised planning and development workshops in August 2023, October 2024, and August 2026, particularly for local communities and current users of the Seurasaari swimming area. The workshops were
designed in collaboration with FEMMA Planning, a consultancy specialising in participatory urban planning.
In 2025, Seurasauna continued the co-development of its communal and inclusive sauna concept based on Sara Nyyssälä’s master’s thesis at Aalto University, Examining Viable Business Models for the Sauna Operations of a Communal and Inclusive Sauna Concept by the Seurasauna Association. The thesis concluded that a Hybrid Social Enterprise Model would be the most promising approach for the future development of Seurasauna.
