immersive cold sauna
Mentahmatter Design
This temporary landscape installation functions as a coastal Cold Sauna, utilizing sea breezes, mist, humidity, and temperature differentials to craft a low-temperature, immersive sensory experience. It invites visitors to rediscover the presence of their own breath, the sensation of their skin, and the passage of time. As an independent volume placed within the shoreline landscape, the architecture’s clean geometric silhouette contrasts with the natural environment. Rather than imitating nature, it intervenes with a quiet, restrained posture, highlighting the tension and relationship between man-made structures and the wild scenery.
The entire structure is composed of renewable and recyclable materials, including marine plywood, hardwood studs, and a reconfigurable timber framing system. Through modular design, material waste is minimized, ensuring the architecture can be disassembled and reused after its temporary tenure.
The spatial experience is defined by a 24-meter linear path. Users ascend a narrow ramp, passing through low-ceilinged spaces enveloped in dense mist where perception becomes compressed and focused. As the path gradually opens to the sky, allowing light and sea breeze to permeate the interior, it finally leads to a platform overlooking the ocean. In this way, the architecture becomes a spatial journey—a process of reconnecting the body, nature, and perception.
- Artwork No.W02
- Dimensions20x 1.2 x 2.4 (m)
Mentahmatter Design
We are a transdisciplinary design collective whose practice spans architecture, spatial design, landscape, art, and the humanities. Our fundamental philosophy is rooted in "mentah"—a term signifying the raw and unprocessed. We reject over-stylized, technology-driven approaches and formalist expressions, choosing instead to return to the essence of things.
In our understanding, design is neither a layering of styles nor an imposition of narratives; rather, it is a response to context. The conditions of a site, the state of the environment, and human behavior serve as our primary points of departure. We emphasize interactivity and openness, allowing spaces to be continuously defined through use rather than being predetermined by constraints.
We believe that "simplicity" is not about reduction, but about creating a state that accommodates multiple possibilities. By stepping back and avoiding over-design, we ensure that ninety percent of a project returns to the basics, allowing the remaining ten percent to become a truly meaningful intervention.
For us, architecture is not merely an object; it is a relational medium that integrates nature, people, and time. This ethos forms the core of mentahmatter.
- 作品點位紅樹林濕地復育區（大園新街溪口）