Metamorphosis of a sauna stone: storytelling through investigative design & material development
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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Date
2024
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Master’s Programme in Design
Language
en
Pages
110
Series
Abstract
In this thesis, the lifecycle of peridotite sauna stones from Saunaseura and Kulttuurisauna, two public saunas in Helsinki, is investigated. Public saunas use large amounts of stones in their sauna stoves. Over time, they lose the ability to retain and conduct the heat, causing them to become brittle and break down. After their use in the sauna stoves, they are discarded and regarded as unusable. The sauna stone’s geologic and geographic origin and its connections with Helsinki’s public saunas are investigated to shape the context for the material development with this discarded material. The investigation highlights the intricate connections between the material, the sauna bathing ritual and the local stakeholders which are all major components in the history of the peridotite sauna stone. Through practice-led material research, an innovative future of discarded sauna stones is suggested by employing them as a material for developing geopolymers. Geopolymers offer a great medium to explore the revaluation of sauna stones within a creative studio context. As a result, the advantages and shortcomings of the newly developed geopolymers are discussed. Next, this new material is transformed into a sauna door handle to narrate the sauna stones’ history and functions within the sauna. The door handle is discussed as a proof-of-concept to test the material within the context of the sauna, while simultaneously acting as a physical and poetic translation of the investigation. The research results have been shown in an exhibition at Kulttuurisauna that narrates the history of peridotite sauna stones from public saunas in Helsinki. Finally, this thesis concludes that both design methodologies of investigative design and practice-led material design facilitate each other resulting in holistic research on discarded peridotite sauna stones from public saunas in Helsinki.Description
Supervisor
Falin, PriskaThesis advisor
Falin, Priskavan der Lei, Anna
Keywords
investigative design, sauna stone, practice-led material research, geopolymers, storytelling, discarded material