Little Box Sauna (LBS) has teamed up with The 612 Sauna Society and The Lander Group to bring the nordic sauna experience to a neighborhood near you. Next stop: 38th and Nicollet!

This winter, community members are invited to join The 612 Sauna Society for weekly open sauna sessions. We’re grateful for all the support we’ve had from the community (the sauna has been full every opening so far!) and thankful to The Lander Group for providing sponsorship and a temporary home (January 10 – 30th) on one of the coziest corners in the city, 38th and Nicollet (next to Blackbird Cafe).

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Little Box Sauna (LBS) was conceived, designed, built and deployed as an experimental Creative Placemaking project by Andrea Johnson and Molly Reichert. Johnson and Reichert are teaming up with local partner sponsors and 612 Sauna Society Founder John Pederson to bring the project to neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities.

What to know:

  • Changing rooms available.
  • Sauna will be hosted and staffed at all times.
  • Bathing suits are required at the sauna.
  • Bring a towel, non-metal water bottle and flip-flops (optional).
  • Please refrain from wearing perfumes or cologne to the sauna.
  • Little Box Sauna FAQs
  • Every is welcome at Little Box Sauna. Little Box Sauna is welcoming space for every shade of age, shape, color, gender, ethnicity, etc. As long as you have a body that would enjoy warming up, and you’re respectful of others, our bench is your bench!
  • Group bookings are also now available. If you’d like to organize your own sauna gathering, enter your email below and we’ll send you info on how to do so:

  • Couldn’t get a spot? Have no fear! We’ll be opening up more reservations on a rolling basis. Sign up for email updates to be notified as soon as we do.
  • NO REFUNDS. Not because we’re mean. As soon as we can afford an intern or secretary to take care of refunds and other details like that, we will. In the meanwhile, please know that you’re non-refund is supporting a good cause.
  • Speaking of not having an intern or secretary, if you must cancel, please let the Facebook Group know that your spot is available and that the first person to reply can have it.

See you on the bench!

– JP, Molly, Andrea, Rod and Michael

Reserve your seat now

Group reservations


Bring Little Box to your community or event!

*** email me to find out how: john@612saunasociety.com ***


Our Team

MR_PP_photo_gs2Molly Reichert

Molly is trained as an architect and teaches in the School of Architecture at the University of Minnesota. She specializes in digital design and fabrication and has worked on numerous award-winning public projects including ‘Meander’ for the Lowertown Stadium, the master plan for Frogtown Farm in St. Paul, MN, LakeForms for the Minneapolis Creative City Challenge, and TönöSauna for the Art Shanty Projects. Molly is internationally recognized in the sweat-bathing community and has presented her design work at the International Sweat Summit in San Francisco, CA. She has visited countless saunas, banyas, and public baths around the world.

AndreaJJohnsonAndrea Johnson

Andrea is a licensed architect and educator, who values fostering health and creativity through design and design practices in both urban and rural environments. Andrea grew up within a culture of sweat lodges in South Dakota, and has since immersed herself in the experiences, spaces, and languages of bathing cultures around the globe, most often finding herself in deep conversation with an old or new friend in the banya at the Russian & Turkish Baths in the East Village. At the University of Minnesota, Andrea is a research fellow and lecturer, teaching in the undergraduate and graduate architecture programs, and conducting research on best practices for delivering integrated, high-performing architecture projects, the space of artist studios, architecture and maker culture, and architecture and poetry. Her current experimental “hot room” project is for her mother on Lake Koronis, MN.

11695545_10104441941385737_1696790517209116981_nJohn Pederson
I founded this group, The 612 Sauna Society, a Minneapolis-based initiative helping people “waste time with dignity” by promoting Nordic sauna culture. The project started when I built a mobile sauna and converted it into a clubhouse of sorts for people who needed to unplug and connect. Today the group has over 400 members and is leading the way in what has been dubbed “The Urban Sauna Revival” (thanks City Pages!). Before I became “Sauna Guy,” I was a community manger at CoCo Coworking and Collaborative Space and the Director of Operations at The Mighty Mo! Web Development Company. I trained as a journalist by producing programs for NPR’s “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” and “To the Best of Our Knowledge” programs before moving to Indonesia to start the country’s first student-run radio station as a Fulbright Fellow in Sumatra. When I’m not sweating in the sauna, I’m creating opportunities to do so on the dance floor as an organizer for The Dance Shanty.