Health + Wellness
As crusaders for a holistic human-centered design+build process, health and wellness is central to our ethos.
We design spaces that support wellbeing at every scale—from moments of personal reflection to systems that strengthen community health. Through thoughtful materials, ritual, and human-centered design, we create environments that foster connection, resilience, and care.
Sauna No. 1 is an off-grid wellness retreat designed to reconnect people with the natural environment through ritual, material honesty, and elemental experience. Located in rural Plumas County, the project combines a wood-fired sauna, tea room, cold plunge, and gathering deck into a cohesive environment that supports both individual wellbeing and community health.
Designed and constructed as a prototype for scalable rural wellness infrastructure, the project explores how resilient materials, local resources, and intentional spatial sequences can foster deeper connections between people, place, and community.
Built from locally sourced fire-killed pine and utilizing fire-hardened construction strategies, Sauna No. 1 demonstrates how wellness, environmental stewardship, and regional resilience can work together as a single system.
WELLNESS IN RITUAL
Health is shaped by the small rituals that structure daily life. Sauna No. 1 creates an intentional sequence of experiences—from arrival and preparation to heat, rest, reflection, and reconnection. Each space encourages presence, patience, and interaction with the natural world.
COMMUNITY RESILIENCE + HEALTH
The project was developed as a mass timber prototype utilizing locally-sourced fire-killed pine and regional fabrication expertise as a solution for small, rural communities to enter the mass timber market. The project transforms environmental challenges into opportunities for regeneration and stewardship, tying individual health with the health of the surrounding ecosystem.
TACTILE + PURPOSEFUL CONSTRUCTION
Each material decision is grounded in its connection to nature. Fire-hardened materials like metal shingles and mass timber, paired with finishes like Shou Sugi Ban, protect against forest fires. The weathering of these materials also connect the user with the seasons and time.
ELEMENTAL MATERIALITY
The Sauna was designed intentionally without running water or electricity, encouraging the user to focus and engage with their surrounding environment to find a sense of harmony with oneself and nature.
