‘Tis the season to truly appreciate a ready supply of steaming hot water you can stand in after coming in from the wind, rain and snow. For the innovation-minded, there are a host of creative, stylish new ways to bath or shower in that blessed warmth…as these 18 bathroom design examples illustrate. Soak them up, and have a blast!
(Images via: Tag)
“Hydrotherapy” is the keyword behind the arresting-looking (and arrestingly-priced) SilverTAG shower unit. Once you’re standing in place, a series of computer-controlled jets soothe and pummel you from a number of startling directions (make sure you are prepared for the one directly under your feet. If you like the look, start saving now – as Gizmodo puts a price of $100,000 on each unit.
(Images via: Rixon & Green Shortlands Ltd. and Trendhunter and Amazon and Viteo)
The SilverTAG raises a good question: from what direction should a shower fire water at you? The creators of the RainSky think Nature has it right, emulating the streaming curtain of a waterfall. Approaching the problem from the other end, the Viteo fires the water up from under your feet – but how efficient is this? In eco-conscious times, a device that has to overcome gravity will get a black mark against its energy-thrifty credentials. It might recover some ground by relying on the new practice of introducing pockets of air to pad out and accelerate the water, bringing water consumption down by a third while retaining the same look and feel – the Oxygenics Elite Skincare shower nozzle is an example of this technology put into practice.
(Images via: 100 Percent Design)
Is it a shower or is it lighting? An irrelevant question for the futuristic Gessi Private Wellness shower array, employing shifting colors for a “chromatherapeutic” spa experience. Changeable sprays complete the picture – and provide the potential for an arresting indoor or outdoor water feature (as long as that water can be recirculated, that is).
(Images via: I New Idea)
Speaking of conserving water, one popular eco-friendly tip is to limit the time you spend in the shower. Instead of setting an alarm (or buying a waterproof watch), a more fun method of time-spent feedback is the Eco Drop: the floor tiles are a series of sculpted rings that raise themself up when you’ve moved from cleanliness to pure self-indulgence. In theory, there is nowhere to stand, propelling you out of the shower – although it might be possible to stand on tiptoe if you are feeling rebellious…
(Images via: neoQi)
There is nothing time-limiting about the Elegance (top) and Balance “energy cocoons” from NeoQi. These are super-sophisticated bathtubs that offer bubble bath, steaming and infrared sauna functions – and for a really long soak, you can flip the lid down until only your head emerges, and doze yourself glowingly clean.
(Image via: Generate Design)
But if glowing is what you are looking for, it’s hard to be the LLT Illuminated LED bathtub. $1,500 will buy you this dramatically inner-lit polyethyline tub, inset with a fully programmable multicolor LED light array (or available without, if you choose).
(Images via: TrendsNow)
Okay, so what exactly is this? In theory it is both bath and shower, although we suspect another more versatile definition is required. You can stand up in designer Ron Arad’s Rotator, or you can sit down and fully immerse yourself in the water-retaining curved base. Then, after a few fruitless minutes searching for the plughole, you discover that to drain the water away, the entire device tips rotates around until its disk is tipping gently forwards. See it in action here.
(Images via: Stone Forest and BoxArt)
Enough with all the modernism and technology. Winter is all about getting back to basics and basking in the warm glow of traditionalism. It’s also about rediscovering stone (particularly in roaring fireplaces) – and if that is your thing, Stone Forest’s hollowed rock bath and BoxArt’s upright stone tub will satisfy all your natural urges.
(Images via: AQ Hayon Collection)
If you’re looking for a bath tub more refined-looking than the naturalistic examples above – let is introduce the Banera. At first sight, it’s a table – and once you’re immersed in your favourite luxury bath-salts, you can lean to one end and have lunch, read a book or anything else you’d normally do at a table (non-electrically, w should add).
(Image via: Student Design Awards)
Like the Banera, the Ladybird borrows functionality from other household furnishings. In the corner of your kitchen, it will function nicely as a glossy modernistic sink until you yourself need a good scrub – at which point you lift the sink-top away, fill it with hot water and clamber in.
(Images via: Effepimarmi)
At once cutting-edge (it’s just been released) and engagingly rustic, the Stone Drops Feeling‘s body is made from an array of tiny pebbles held in a matrix, the surface of which has been polished to a marble-like shine. The clear glass sides add a sexy twist! (A jacuzzi version would perhaps be too perfect).
(Image via: Di Vapor)
Like the Ladybird and Banera, there are shower designs that aren’t content to be one-trick ponies. The Utopia Steam Room System is, as the name suggests, a double, interconnected shower-cubicle, one containing a steam room. It’s perfect for the Classical Roman tradition of cleaning: sweat the day out of your pores and vigorously exfoliate with oils or a body-scrub before stepping into running water to wash away and freshen up.
(Images via: Intelligent Consumer Producs Inc. and Gruppo Treesse)
Lastly, a few designs that should make you a touch uneasy. There’s no denying the Inside tub’s gleaming, smoothly-lined charms – or, unfortunately, its resemblance to a certain common household throne. However, we definitely take our hats off to the ingenuity of the makers of the Shower Shower – which is a device you install above your shower to clean it. The possibilities – such as the Shower Shower Shower, etc. – are endless, prompting Gizmodo to speculate that it might destroy the universe. What a way to go.
