Room with a...

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Well ok, I did consider ‘room with a pooh’ – and we're not talking Winnie here – but really, whatever I call this article, there are those that just don’t want to share their bedroom, guestroom or workspace with the restroom. 

And, no matter how intimate we are with a significant other, I definitely don’t wish to share any resultant cacophony or aroma of their (or mine for that matter) bodily functions.  Maybe I’m using a tad too much artistic licence here but is there a trend to turn guestrooms into de facto wet rooms?

Designers are having to juggle the current trend to offer open plan rooms with ensuring the privacy and modesty required for our daily ablutions – even for those that travel alone.  Everyone I talk to really do judge a hotel by its bathroom; judging the commode by its lid, so to speak. So reaction is mixed when guests are greeted with a bath instead of a bed and also next to the window in full view of the birds and bees.

“Room with a Pooh? No thank you!” says Jeffrey Williams, partner with BBG-BBGM in New York. According to Williams, the water closet environment should always be designed as a space that respects the privacy of both the user and individuals that are in other areas of the same guestroom.  By keeping the water closet area as a private experience designers can be free to create memorable experiences that involve more than one person, with the design focus on the celebration and glamour of bathing.

 “The expectations of business and leisure travellers are to have authentic, memorable and meaningful experiences when they are away from home. The design environment and service provided by hotels are pivotal factors that impact on the ability for guests to achieve their expectations and create positive experiences,” Williams says.
 

Alex Cho, vice-president development and design Asia Pacific for Jumeirah Management Services, says that stand alone baths can be sexy and a unique feature but few cultures are comfortable with the bath next to the bed or in the 'open' area as in the Setai, Miami. “Balancing openness with privacy is about considering the need to understand project appropriateness in relation to location, culture and hotel,” Cho says.  “It is probably best to allow for the option to close off from the rest of the room.  A memorable bathing experience is one that suggests light and space while in a totally relaxed and comfortable zone.”
 
“The trend to open bathrooms into guestrooms can create memorable guest experiences when the overall guestroom is designed with flexibility to accommodate the private and semi-private activities of guests while achieving the desired brand expectations of the Operator,” says Kate Greenwood, partner at BBG-BBGM Sydney.  But what does she think about stand-alone baths next to beds or simply open plan rooms?  

“Either can work it depends on what is right for the situation. For the most part opening the bathroom works – providing privacy can be given - moving the tub away from the bathroom itself into the room is not usually practical,“ she adds.

The increasing stress on wellbeing and consequent search for spaces devoted to one’s own personal care has lead to an ever-growing importance of the bathroom in the project of a hotel room. From a mere service quarter, the bathroom has gradually evolved into an oasis for daily recharge and wellness rituals.  Going way beyond the traditional utilitarian aspect, the bathroom is now considered a space to enjoy and show, to invent and customise. As such it is subjected to changing fashions. Its dimensions enlarge and its layout is attentively studied with ample recourse to precious materials and hi-tech tools.  

According to Cho,  “Open baths have been around now for some time, and while they can extend the 'resort' feel, they can be inappropriate and inflexible. The key is being able to design the bathroom allowing for both an open as well as closed-off option.  This is the most successful solution for most operators rather than coming back in and putting up an 'after-thought' solution.”
 

As for innovation in the materials employed in the tap ware industry we need to distinguish between innovation dictated by technical and/or economic reasons and innovation dictated purely by fashion trends. Taps have undergone a dramatic change in appearance and function in the last few years.
Though this change has been partly dictated by technology, it has been mostly driven by fashion.  
The application of design to bathroom ware has removed the lowly tap from its original function of a mere valve for regulating a water flow and transformed it into a furnishing element respondent to both functional and aesthetic logic.

While the tap has been traditionally made in brass, in more recent times there has been an attempt to use alternative materials, such as steel, aluminium and other alloys. This change was partly driven by functional and aesthetic research, though economic motivations can’t be excluded since the price of brass has surged through the years.

Technological research is aimed at enhancing the functions of the tap or the shower sets.
The latest trend sees the use of light sources such as LEDs embedded in tap ware items.  This technology makes function and sensation come together; enlightened water  - white or coloured light – makes for an amazing effect. When used in taps, light can act as an element of decoration or as an instrument of visual perception of the water temperature.  When coloured light is applied to the shower sets, it becomes a vector of wellbeing by the much in vogue chromotherapy.

The shower department is actually experiencing some major function enhancements: beyond coloured lights, the jets source and type can now be selected by the user; they can range from multiple water blades, cascade to rainfall and even up to the atomisation producing mist. Embedded music and fragrance diffusers are the next foreseeable additions. The shower is being apparently upgraded to the status of a personal wellness set, a private spa treatment for one’s own private recharge or relaxation.

Another path being followed by research in the sanitary ware industry is digital/electronic technology.  Digital technology, or domotics, allows the user to set their own preferred temperature and flow with much more accuracy than levers can allow for.  The user can even record a personal set of preferences that can be easily recalled upon use of the bathroom facilities.

In the contract industry Gessi has positioned itself as a versatile and reliable partner offering the utmost quality and a unique design. The collections by Gessi have been designed to harmoniously fit in with both the vanguard of architectural styles as well as with the most classic ones.  

Laura Kirar is both an interior and product designer. She is founder and creative director for two companies; TRU design in New York city specialising in high-end interior architecture and design and LKDL (Laura Kirar Design Licensing), Miami focusing on product licensing and lifestyle branding. Kirar believes the hotel bathroom should be designed as an extension of the home and revels in designing bathroom suites that make guests want to luxuriate and spend hours in.

Kirar is drawn to clean simple shapes offering timeless classic elegance. For Kirar, metal bathroom fittings are the ‘jewellery’ in each collection and one can see her art translated in the Vir Stil Collection designed for Kallista. Kirar has introduced such functional details as a basin shifted to the side to provide more countertop space and drawers that swivel out towards the body; each item noted for the luxurious materials from Grigio limestone or Calacatta marble from Italy

Looking ahead, especially in the US market, designers are being challenged to include eco advances to reduce water usage. New innovative designs include pull-down faucets and bronze finishes.   Bathrooms with dressing areas look to be the new trend in the luxury segment.

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