Community sauna in Seattle, WA

Soon after purchasing a home in Seattle’s Central District neighborhood, Juliette Dubroca and her spouse, Isaac Backus, found themselves in search of a project. Juliette, who founded architecture firm Dubroca Studio, and her husband had long wanted a sauna of their own, and despite their tight budget, they decided it was time to forge ahead. The resulting retreat has become not only a wellness escape, but a community destination connecting them to their new neighborhood.

The sauna is designed as a simple two-room structure with a small patio adjacent to the main home. The hot room contains the sauna stove and two built-in benches, while the cold room holds the cold plunge and a small dressing room—all within 120 square feet. The sauna has two access points: one connected to the home’s entry and another via a separate side entrance that allows visitors to come and go as they please without disrupting the main house.

With a shoestring budget and a shortage of materials, Juliette and Isaac had to think outside the box so to speak. Together they sourced salvaged materials and modified them for a new purpose. Creative scavenging became a vital part of the construction—and one of the most joyful parts of the design process. A modified horse trough became a cold plunge, acrylic samples were glued to form a window, and a tin ceiling plate was repurposed as the stove firewall. Juliette devised a clever pulley system for the door latch that protects skin from inadvertent burns from metal hardware.

The sauna’s expectedly hot temperatures were a consideration throughout the design process. Ultimately, cedar was selected for the interior given its naturally heat resistant properties as well as its rustic aesthetic and compelling scent.

Given the project’s unusual, DIY nature, curious neighbors began to come by early on in the design process, stopping to chat and, overtime, chip in. Today, the building still makes for a compelling neighborly visit—leading to new friendships formed over sauna and cold plunge circuits.