Olympics, sauna and reviving communities – from 1948 to present

In 1948 the Finnish team at London Olympics had a sauna cabin built in the athletes' village. Designed as complete recovery and relaxation facility with a hot room, cold showers, massage tables and kitchen and used prepare for and recover from competition. After the Games the sauna was relocated from Richmond Park to Maidstone in Kent to the Reed Paper Mills sports grounds. It represented in many ways both the wood-building tradition, modular and mass produced modern post-war innovation. This was also a beginning of a trade between Finland and the UK on prefabricated modular system buildings. Find out more in our exhibition Where we showcase the projects and impact by Puutalo Oy. In the era of post-war reconstruction, Puutalo corporation became the largest export organisation for prefabricated wooden houses in the world.