The book Forest Sauna maps the unconventional construction of the sauna landscape in Spišský Hrhov, designed by the architecture group WOVEN. The construction was executed with the help of o.z. Centrum pre Architektúru and o.z. Čierne Diery. The sauna is located in a remote area in the woods, without access to the network, has an asymmetrical shape, and at first glance, it is not obvious to the visitor what type of construction he came across. This mystery is also incorporated into the design of the book. It does not reveal the nature of the construction on the first pages and it works with various graphic and polygraphic elements.
The format of the book started with 225x320 milimeters, which was processed into an optical offset. The final shape was not cut into a rectangular block, but we misaligned the book while cutting. This enabled us to create an angle with the difference of the top of the book 5mm, the side part 8mm and the bottom part of 3mm. The sum of the carved out differences is equal to 16mm. This workmanship is to help the reader to visualize the construction of the forest sauna, which is tilted under the angle of 16°.
We applied the actual crushed charcoal to the partial varnish of the charcoal photograph. Thus, black smudges remain on the reader’s fingers once touching the book cover. Our aim was to support the authenticity of his experience in contact with the book.
We applied the actual crushed charcoal to the partial varnish of the charcoal photograph. Thus, black smudges remain on the reader’s fingers once touching the book cover. Our aim was to support the authenticity of his experience in contact with the book.
The nature of the construction is not revealed on the first pages of the book. Gradually, the recipient familiarizes himself with the surrounding areas of the forest sauna. The photos are arranged to create a story in which the reader visits, recognizes, and then exits the sauna and its hidden inner corners. We approached the selection of a paper in various ways and in total we used 7 types.
To support the escalation of the created scenic nature, we also changed the density of the grid on the background of the pages. This ranges from 1mm to 42mm and it also replaces the usual way of numbering the book. Under the 16° angle, the grid fills out the geometry of some photos, while providing a formal framework for texts and other technical information.
The monochrome color of orange is used for the formal aspects of the design and it was conditioned by the orange color of the fire in the photo, which is displayed in a color profil of CMYK being the multiple of the 16; C:16 M:32 Y:96 K:0, based on a 16° tilt of the sauna.
