Solar Egg is an egg-shaped

sauna A sauna (, ) is a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is used to meas ...

created by the artist duo Bigert & Bergström for Riksbyggen. The sauna sits perched in Luossabacken in

Kiruna (; ; ; ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norrbotten County. The c ...

. The egg consists of a pine wood interior and a highly reflected gold steel panels. Its wide interior can fit up to eight people. while the inside still functions as a normal sauna with a wood-heated heart-shaped stove to keep the room around . Illumination comes in the form of

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

lightning, which is powered by its sets of batteries. Beyond its function as a sauna, Solar Egg is essentially a public sculpture developed in collaboration with artist duo Bigert & Bergström. The egg was temporarily moved to the

Swedish Institute The Swedish Institute (, ) is a government agency in Sweden with the responsibility to spread information about Sweden outside the country. It exists to promote Swedish interests, and to organise exchanges with other countries in different ar ...

in central

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, to draw attention to the Swedish design and visitors were able to experience the sauna first-hand. Solar Egg was recognized with Red Dot awards and

German Design Award The Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany () is the official design award for Germany presented by the German Ministry for Economics and Technology. The award was given for the first time under the name 'Federal Award for Good Design' in ...

s as well as being nominated in the London International Awards and the Swedish design awards. The egg shape seeks to symbolize rebirth and new opportunities at the start of Kiruna's urban transformation, a project that involves the relocation of the entire cities districts in response to ground subsidence caused by decades of iron ore minings.

Construction

In Kiruna, Sweden, the entire community is being forced to move due to ground complications caused by a nearby ore mine. The Swedish artist duo Bigert & Bergström was commissioned by Riksbyggen to design commemorative social sculpture for the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

after the residents voiced fears of losing community spirit after their relocation. The idea appears to be working, as travel groups are now offering free visits to the Solar Egg.

References

Saunas Kiruna {{Sweden-struct-stub