The Poetics of Light, Wood, Stone, and Fire
A Design/Build Intensive
This May, fifteen people will gather in a forest in the Boston Mountains of Northwest Arkansas to design and build a wood-fired group sauna together — from first sketch to first heat — in seven days.
That's HOTCOLD DESIGN/BUILD 2026. The first in what we're building as an annual series.
The workshop is led by Sami Rintala, Finnish architect and professor at NTNU Trondheim, whose firm has been invited four times to the Venice Architecture Biennale and whose methodology — refined across 260+ international design/build workshops — holds that the best making happens at full scale, in the open air, in the presence of the actual place.
The sauna is the medium because of what it strips away. No electrical systems, no plumbing, no HVAC. What remains are the fundamentals: light, shadow, entry sequence, threshold, and the weight of material in your hands. Everyone designs. Everyone builds. Everything.
It will be formative. It will be communal. Evenings wind down around a fire with good food, music, and people worth knowing. We complete the workshop with sauna together in the new project.
We think you'd be right for this. What you build here stays with you.
(Watch this video for a sample of the sauna design/build experience)
Dates: Arrival May 10th - 18th Departure, 2026 (design/build instruction days May 10th-17th)
Meals and Accommodations:
Meals are included from evening May 10th to breakfast May 18th
Group camping on-site is included and encouraged. Tents and clean sleeping bags available if needed for a small fee. Other area accommodations are available, inquire for suggestions
Instructors: Sami Rintala, Justin M. Tucker, Others TBA
Open to Architecture and design students, professionals, creative makers, and sauna enthusiasts.
Application-based entry (click here to apply) (This ensures a cohesive working collective for a demanding project. However, mindset is valued over preexisting skills)
Participant fee, with meals: $1800* Cohort is limited to 15 participants, and will fill up quickly (Fee is not due at time of application. Applications will be considered as received, until full)
*University of Arkansas Student discounts are available by sponsorship from Peter MacKeith, the Honorary Consul of Finland for Arkansas. We are actively working to provide more scholarships and financial assistance for those who need it; Please inquire hotcolddesignbuild@gmail.com
Please email hotcolddesignbuild@gmail.com for more information.
Appreciation for our Sponsors:
Peter MacKeith, the Honorary Consul of Finland for Arkansas generously provided a new Harvia 20 Pro Wood Burning Sauna Heater as well as financial assistance to reduce the workshop cost for multiple University of Arkansas students