Kiln Sauna is delighted to announce the launch of Kiln Sauna Pavilion. Perched above the curve of Porthmeor Beach, where sea and sky dissolve into one another, Kiln Sauna Pavilion takes up a privileged position on the western edge of St Ives.
Overlooking the Atlantic with uninterrupted views from Man’s Head to The Island, the new pavilion is conceived as both sanctuary and social gathering place. An architecture shaped by warmth, stillness and the ever-changing horizon light; every space is designed to capture the shifting brilliance for which St Ives has long been celebrated
The brainchild of Falmouth locals Kathryn Tyler and Angus Thatcher, this enveloping experience is their third site and draws inspiration from sauna traditions around the world. The name ‘Kiln’ is a creative homage to Cornwall’s extensive lime burning heritage in the 18th and 19th centuries, characterized by kilns along the coast and tidal rivers for convenient coal transportation. Enriching this historical backdrop, Kathryn and Angus discovered the Korean tradition of Hanjeungmak, where the residual warmth of extinguished kilns was repurposed for traditional sauna sessions. This fusion of cultural and historical elements beautifully informs the identity of ‘Kiln’.
There are landscapes that move beyond scenery and become part of cultural memory. St Ives is one of them. For generations, artists, makers and wanderers have been drawn here by the rare coastal light that changes by the hour. Just moments from Tate St Ives, Kiln Sauna Pavilion enters this lineage not as interruption, but as continuation: a place to experience the same elements that inspired painters and poets, now through heat, sea air and ritual.
The pavilion emerges gently from the hillside. Soil relocated during the levelling of the site has been carefully sculpted to create a tiered grass amphitheatre, its terraces commanding far-reaching views across the bay. Around it, the land is being adorned with robust maritime native flora chosen to thrive in the salt air and Atlantic winds, rooting the project firmly within its Cornish setting.
Arranged in a courtyard formation, the structures provide lightweight shelter from the prevailing winds while framing moments of openness to the sea beyond. The architecture balances exposure and protection – a place where visitors can move from brisk coastal air into radiant warmth, paired with conversation and contemplation.
Each sauna has been oriented to welcome either sunrise or sunset, ensuring every session is shaped by the day’s changing light. Larger-volume spaces with deeper benches continue Kiln’s much-loved social sauna tradition, where shared side-by-side heat creates easy connection between strangers and friends alike. The spaces invite a multigenerational crowd and offer the opportunity to visit alone or with friends and family. Twinned with the communal sauna space, the pavilion introduces a more immersive format: a silent sauna dedicated to complete stillness, which can also be offered as a soundscape sauna where carefully curated audio deepens the sense of mental escape.
As with all memorable places, Kiln Sauna Pavilion is about more than what is built. It is about how a setting is felt. The short ascent from the galleries of Tate St Ives to the warmth above the beach becomes a ritual in itself. Here, overlooking one of Cornwall’s most storied bays, a new chapter of coastal wellbeing begins.
