An outdoor spa in London? This build shows why it’s a good idea…
Black & Milk’s founders Olga Alexeeva and Toly Alekseev have seen a rise in requests for saunas and spas in the gardens or on the terraces of their UK projects, but it was Alexeeva’s own father who wanted to take the trend to the next level.
He is a big fan of the banya – the Slavic alternative to the sauna, which is as much a social experience as a physical one. ‘It’s a tradition that was very important to him,’ says Alexeeva of her father’s passion – one that led her parents to dedicate the bottom of their vast, woodland-like garden in Hampstead to it.
It was not a simple project – the banya, guesthouse (complete with a fold-down bed) and central plunge pool had to be built around protected trees and on top of sloping ground, meaning the whole structure needed to be raised on concrete micro piles – but it’s been a true family affair.
‘My dad was very particular,’ recalls Alexeeva with a smile. ‘He didn’t want it to be like a Passivhaus, which he says is like wrapping yourself in a plastic box. He wanted everything to breathe; to be 100 per cent natural.’ His wishes were met by a materials palette that includes several timbers (pine for the cladding, formaldehyde-free MDF for the joinery and larch for the plunge pool), as well as cork and terrazzo in the guesthouse.
The banya itself was something that had to be considered in exacting detail. ‘The temperature can get up to 100°C, and you need a lot of water to make steam so that the heat is not as harsh,’ says Alexeeva, who points out that a compromise had to be made, swapping the traditional logs for an electric-heating element. Special doors seal in the moisture, and even the height and depth of the seating had to be carefully calibrated.
The whole banya experience can take about three hours, with 15-minute bursts of extreme heat broken up with time sat in the guesthouse drinking tea and chatting, as well as occasional cool-downs under the tropical shower (the couple had considered the more customary bucket with a pull cord, but know from bitter experience that they can often miss their target). The culmination of the whole process is the parenie, a very vigorous beating with whiskers (bundles of branches softened in water) that opens up the pores, and a quick hop into the awaiting central plunge pool, which is set to a permanently invigorating, teeth-chattering 7°C.
‘Dad is very happy,’ Alexeeva tells us, but she is perhaps even more elated at the project’s results. ‘I love this place – sometimes we take a break from our kids and just go there!’ blackandmilk.co.uk
