We all do it. We dream about getting away from the day to day…throwing our laptops, turning off the mobile phone and going somewhere that we can actually hear ourselves think without all the noise that consumes our life. Perhaps that place is a rustic cabin by some remote lake, a beach in a country that believes in moving a bit slower than us or camping up in the wilderness far from civilization. How about relaxing in a hot tub in the middle of….anywhere you want? Sounds pretty relaxing doesn’t it?

Floris Schoonderbeek, an art student from the Netherlands at the time, came up with a fabulous design for a portable wood-fired tub for his product design thesis back in 2002 he calls the Dutchtub. An image of the product without anything to show scale, kinda makes the tub look like something you might use in science class. But it’s actually quite large and is simple and ingenious design. The water is heated through the spiral coil on the side of the tub with a wood fire and then the water circulates back through the tub. It can take 2-5 hours to heat the tub to a nice hot temperature depending on several factors like the air temperature and how hot you want it but hey, who’s in a hurry…it’s all about slowing down, right?

What makes this tub especially unique is it’s ability to travel completely independantly of anything. With a simple roof rack on top of even a small car or even carried by helicopter, snowmobile or tractor, it’s ready to travel. And then after a long, peaceful day’s soak and the water has cooled, all you have to do is pull the plug and the water drains out. You can then use the water for irrigation.

The designers goal was to create a link between the indoor and outdoor environment and to enourage a stronger connection with people and their surrounding environment. The tub can allow you to relax and rediscover the natural world. And while the picture above was taken at a ski resort called Schmitten in Zell am See, Austria, I couldn’t help but imagine that these could be pretty popular at some place like the Icehotel in Sweden. There’s nothing like being outdoors under the stary night sky with snow all around and the steam curling up all around from the hot water.

spotted via Green Upgrader and all images via Boundless Bathing