Brie Larson's outdoor sauna taps into a major wellness trend that's shaping how we relax in 2024

Home wellness centers are one of the biggest interior design trends of 2024. These spa-like additions to the home have benefits for health, but they can also have wonderful benefits for the design of your house. Brie Larson's home is the perfect example.

The actress shared her morning routine on YouTube, in which her home sauna features heavily. Brie's wooden sauna has a glass door and perches on the edge of her patio, giving her a view of the garden behind her house. The design of the space helps to increase the health and wellness benefits of Brie's outdoor sauna.

First, the feature promotes wellness in design through its placement outside. Kevin Lenhart, Director of Design at Yardzen, states: 'There is abundant research documenting the incredible health and wellness benefits to be gained from connecting with the outdoors. Being in nature, or even having a view of planted outdoor environments, has been linked with faster healing times, increased creativity, decreased stress, and higher productivity, among many other positive outcomes.'

Kevin Lenhart

Kevin Lenhart is the design director at Yardzen and a licensed landscape architect. He is a LEED Accredited Professional in Neighborhood Development and holds a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. As a designer, Kevin’s practice is rooted in a commitment to making high-quality design available to everyone, and to using design to improve physical, cultural, and ecological well-being.

'While the sauna itself is an enclosed space, positioning it outdoors and giving it a glass door allows sauna users to enjoy the benefits of a connection with nature in addition to the health benefits of the sauna itself,' he continues.

Furthermore, the way the space is designed for wellness creates the perfect environment for meditation. The uniqueness of this is what makes wellness such a popular interior design trend this year. 

Kevin states: 'Natural materials, like the cedar walls of a home sauna, are a major component of biophilic design. The texture and moderate visual complexity of wood grain trigger positive neurological responses, making us more serene. The warm, earthy color of the wood and the pleasing scent of cedar yield similar effects. Pairing these tactile and sensory qualities with the landscape views offered by Brie's sauna, you get a strong one-two punch of biophilic design.'

He continues, 'Add in the physiological benefits of heat - increasing blood flow to loosen us up and reduce the potential for injury from stretching - and an outdoor sauna becomes an ideal location for stretching or meditation (provided you stay hydrated and don't overheat!).'

We expect to continue to see this look more and more in 2024. Brie Larson's home sauna is just the start.