The Porto Feliz estate that swapped its gazebo for a sauna house

The brief

The couple bought the estate in the pandemic and did the classic homework: pool, gourmet area, vegetable garden. What was missing was the winter and late-afternoon programme - and the grandfather, from a southern family, had been voting sauna since the first barbecue. The brief fit in one sentence: a beautiful place to sweat, freeze and keep talking into the night.

The design decisions

• Firewood, not electric: the rural transformer was tight - and the lighting ritual became part of the programme. A chimney with a spark catcher, because of August's dry lawn.
• Two barrels instead of one big tub: grandfather and grandson do not negotiate time slots. A central 2 HP chiller holds both at 5 °C.
• Sited 40 m from the main house: far enough for the smoke, close enough to walk over in a towel. A lit stone path - nobody steps on a toad at 9 pm.
• A 2.2 m porch with a hammock: the 'third room' nobody asked for and everyone uses.

What changed in 90 days

The Saturday sauna became an institution with its own guest list: the kids bring friends, the grandfather commands the ladle, and the family group chat has an album just for photos of the dial reading 5 °C. In winter, the estate - once shut from June to August - now hosts the family every single weekend. First-year maintenance: one service visit, zero call-outs.