French studio Warm Weekend teamed up with designers Mathias Palazzi and Robinson Guillermet to create a demountable steam room that was presented at the Alcova design event during Milan design week.
Called 18 Drops of Sweat, the self-initiated project was originally developed by Guillermet, Palazzi and Warm Weekend to highlight the benefits of collective hygiene practices.
Marlon Bagnou Beido of Warm Weekend told Dezeen that the installation‘s main objective was to provide a space for conversation around public hygiene, bathing and water use in a shared setting.
“The question of resources has been a recurring theme in our work, both in our individual practices and as a collective,” he explained.
“In this case, we aimed to explore water consumption and rituals by creating a small-scale space that could question or reframe this concept through different uses.”
Its creators described 18 Drops of Sweat as “a collective and spontaneously built hammam”. The main element developed for the project is an inflatable steam room that responds to the need for a versatile object with the potential to be used in different scenarios.
The designers worked with specialist inflatables manufacturer JC Keller to develop a solution that Bagnou Beido said “combines softness with a strong spatial presence.”
The hammam can accommodate up to four people seated or up to eight people standing at one time. A steam generator connected to a water supply releases steam through a copper pipe into the centre of the structure, creating a comfortable, humid environment.
The internal temperature is capped at 55 degrees Celsius to avoid damaging the plastic material, and an opening at the top of the dome allows air to circulate.
The hammam is positioned on a platform made from a demountable galvanised-steel structure that makes the installation easy to transport and reassemble in various locations.
A shower is positioned on a simple tiled wall, with a curtain made from a technical textile sourced from deadstock extening around the platform’s perimeter.
This allows for different levels of privacy depending on whether the space is being used for bathing, relaxing or socialising.
Four low tables arranged around the platform feature curved internal shapes that combine to create a hollow circle. These surfaces provide places for the hammam’s users to sit and chat or drink tea, reinforcing the project’s social and communal aspects.
At the Alcova installation, the hammam was presented alongside stools designed by Palazzi, Bagnou Beido and Simon Chaouat during a one-month residency in a German metal folding factory.
The stackable and demountable stools reference the industrial objects produced in the factory and feature three identical parts, with legs that each also form part of the seat.
The exhibition also included a lounge chair and screen created by Palazzi and Bagnou Beido as part of a collectible furniture series that complements the hammam installation’s use of found industrial materials.
Made from heat exchangers salvaged from a metal scrapyard, the designers aimed to celebrate the character of the found objects by minimising their interventions.
The Boketto Paris gallery supported the Milan presentation and provided vintage furniture for a lounge area that complemented the installation’s themes of relaxation and communal experiences.
18 Drops of Sweat was originally funded by Agir In Seine-Saint-Denis, a public programme supporting social initiatives related to water in the 93rd department of France.
This Paris suburb lacks public facilities for water-related activities such as swimming pools, so the designers set out to create a public bathing space that was built simply, using mostly repurposed materials.
It was first installed in the summer of 2024 at the La Station – Gare des Mines arts centre and music space.
The installation served as a shower station and water point for refugees during the day, and at night was used by partygoers as a place for socialising and relaxation.
“What we envision is a form of communal luxury – a space where the experience of water becomes playful, generous and collective,” said Bagnou Beido.
“The installation’s power lies in its ability to surprise, to create moments of joy, and to propose that reconnecting with collective hygiene practices is not about returning to the past, but about envisioning a more sustainable and pleasurable future,” he added.
The hammam was informed by the work of Hans Walter Muller, an architect who experimented with inflatable structures in the 1970s, as well as by the participatory environments created by Austrian architect Anna Paul.
Other projects on show during Milan design week included a modular house filled with “hacked” Muji products and an exhibition exploring the hidden violence of prison furniture.
18 Drops of Sweat was on show at Alcova during Milan design week from April 7 to 13. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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