Avanto Architects

07/05/2026

Our first project in Japan is now under construction. We look forward to sharing more info soon. Avanto Architects 📸Kenta Takano, Yasui Architects & Engineers, Inc.

05/05/2026

In Iceland, the landscape does most of the work.

The role of architecture is simply to frame the experience —
from heat to cold, from interior to horizon.

AITO sauna, now part of hot springs.

02/05/2026

This article in AXIS Magazine highlights the growing interest in Finnish sauna culture in Japan – not just as wellness, but as a spatial experience.

A sauna is not a standalone feature or a single building, but a sequence of transitions through spaces – closely connected to nature, materials and atmosphere.

It has been great to continue our collaboration with Jasper, founder of Löyly, now developing the AITO sauna concept for international markets.

And there might be more projects in the pipeline… ; )

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世界的なサウナブームの震源地となったLoÿly（ロウリュ）。Photo by kuvio.com今から10年前の2016年、フィンランドの首都ヘルシンキの中心部、バルト海沿いに「Loÿly（ロウリュ）」という名のサウナが出現した。伝統的なスモー...

13/03/2026

Jasper puhuu Huomenta Suomessa AITO-saunasta ~2:06 eteenpäin. 🧖

9.05 & 9.18 Valvomo tekee comebackin 9.35 Sijoittaja Merja Mähkä 9.48 Naisten taloudellinen asema 10.05 & 10.18 Kotimaisen television tulevaisuus 10.35 A.W. Yrjänästä kirja 11.05 Jasper Pääkkönen 11.35 Nelli Orell

20/02/2026

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Some meetings are better held at 90°C. Last week we had the pleasure of hosting our clients from Japan in Helsinki. It was an intense week of many visits, architecture conversations and cultural exchange. It’s always inspiring to explore how two cultures meet — both countries value craftsmanship, material honesty and quiet spaces. Thank you for the visit and sharing the curiosity. We look forward to continuing the project together.

25/11/2025

Being equal has always been a key value for us. We don't have any unnecessary hierarchy in the office and divide people to bosses and employees. We are all coworkers. We remember still our own experiences working as a young and ambitious student in a big corporate office. It was really frustrating to see that there were things that needed still to be improved in the design but we didn't have a say in any design matters. We were supposed just to produce drawings as effectively as possible and let the architecture to our senior colleagues. This is why we decided to act differently in our own office.

We start every project brainstorming as many concepts as possible, even crazy and unrealistic ones, to find new and fresh approaches to the task. Everybody in the office is equal when developing a concept. For example in this Domkirkeudden museum competition some years ago, we selected our trainee 's poetic concept with wooden boathouses shifted to fit the site next to medieval ruins and Sverre Fehn's iconic museum building.

25/08/2025

Good and informative video about sauna bathing by Jasper. Filmed in AITO sauna designed by us.

From Hollywood to Helsinki: Jasper Pääkkönen reveals the authentic Finnish sauna and busts common myths.

23/06/2025

It's pride week so let's think what the rights of LGBTQ community have to do with architectural design.

Naturally the work environment in the office needs to be safe for everyone. There are many great LGBTQ architect's that have left a mark in the history of architecture starting from some of the early Finnish emancipated women architects, not to forget our dear friend Juha Leiviskä. But it's more complex when it comes to actual design work and how it affects the rights of different sexual orientation or gender minorities. We are easily totally blind to our heteronormative thinking, whether we are heterosexual or gay ourselves - so deep are our normative views. We have been working in Finnish Association of Architects equality committee and learned that you need to put extra "equality glasses" on to see the world with different eyes.

A good example are language learning apps where you learn reading stories where a woman might have a girlfriend instead of the usual boyfriend. It's always surprising to find yourself thinking "Wow, I didn't think about that, but of course, why not?". When we don't pay any attention, we easily assume that everyone is like the majority and we might forget to take care of the rights of the minorities. For example in Löyly sauna, we made separate dressing rooms for men and women as usual. It was quite a shock when we were asked that where do you change if you aren't binary. We hadn't been thinking of that at all but luckily in the end we found a solution for the gender minorities too.

For sure, some of the people that read this post think there's too much hustle about equality already and pride isn't needed anymore. Unfortunately the current political climate is showing rise of conservative values and there have been many set backs in human rights both globally and in Finland. So we keep raising these topics and continue working towards better world for us ALL. Happy pride EVERYONE!

14/06/2025

There are many existing ready made saunas in the market. However, sauna design requires a lot of expertise in order to create the best possible löyly – steam that comes when you throw water on the heater stones. For example, according to the so called law of löyly, your feet should be higher than the stove so that they don’t get cold. With AITO (Finnish word meaning authentic, genuine and real) we wanted to provide a real Finnish sauna for the export market.

The starting point of the design for AITO was that the readymade space element should fit inside a standard sized shipping container. As the quality of löyly is dependent on the proportions of the space and having enough air volume, we ended up having a timeless and minimalistic box-like building mass. There are three different sizes and several different combinations of spaces as well as colors to suit different needs and sites. In all of them, the architectural idea is simple: one side is fully glazed, opening an unobstructed view to the surroundings, and all other walls are closed ensuring privacy for the bathers. The built-in millwork borders the closed walls and skirts the space, creating an open area in the middle. The benches in the sauna room rise up perpendicular to the walls, creating alternating steps to climb up to the highest level. Moreover, these perpendicular sauna benches enable two different degrees of löyly: a milder one on the lower bench and a hotter one on the upper level.

More info: aitosauna.com.

10/06/2025

Architecture is slow and a lot of patience is needed: We won sauna competition for young designers already in 2009 with our massive log concept reinterpreting traditional Finnish . We didn't get permission to heat the sauna during the fair and the structure was on display just 4 days until it was dismantled. It would have been unsustainable to waste the impressive huge logs made from old trees for such a short period. We wanted our sauna to be used but unfortunately it was left in storage for 16 years. But finally tomorrow evening Kyly will be open at Kasarmitori .fi. Big thanks for to make this happen! 🙏