Design of the Year, 2026
Heritage Saunas has been named Design of the Year at the 2026 Wonder Global Design Awards. The award was made to the company as a whole, for the way we design and build, rather than for one sauna.
The Wonder Global Design Awards run internationally across five disciplines: architecture, interior design, product design, fashion and visual communication. 2026 is the programme's eleventh year. Work is judged by a jury of more than 40 designers and academics from Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East, and Design of the Year sits above the gold, silver and bronze awards as the programme's top tier.
What the award recognises
Every Heritage sauna is drawn for the property it sits on. We visit before anything is designed, looking at how the ground falls, where the wind comes from and where the sun sits through the day. That visit sets the final specification and the price.
The construction follows the setting. Some saunas are built in solid timber with dovetailed corners, while others are framed and clad to match the house beside them, and the interiors range from New Zealand redwood to uncoated Japanese hinoki. The heat comes from HUUM, the Estonian heater maker Heritage represents as official New Zealand distributor (we'll fit another brand if a client would rather).
Working this way takes longer than shipping a finished pod. A build runs 10 to 16 weeks from signed proposal to handover.
What comes next
The award arrives as two private commissions near completion around Auckland. We'll share them here, with photographs, once they're handed over to their owners.
If you're planning a sauna for a home, a lodge or a commercial space, tell us about the property. Hunter reads every enquiry himself and replies within one business day.
Let’s Design Your Sauna
From coastal sites to alpine settings,
we help create saunas that feel grounded in their surroundings.