Duravit was on the winners' podium three times at the 2012 universal design award. It won the universal design award and the universal design consumer favourite award for its innovative OpenSpace shower partition, which was acclaimed by both the expert and the consumer jury, and received a further universal design award for its latest universal bath covers.
Designers are for ever asking themselves how the water comes out of the tap. Or why showering is so popular, how the experience could be enhanced even more and the shower made to use 10 litres instead of 12. Or why a bathroom fitting actually has to be made of cast brass. These and other questions, say Andreas Haug and Tom Schönherr of Phoenix Design, have given the German sanitary industry a competition-promoting culture of innovation.
Peter Wippermann specialises in communication strategies for trend-based brand management and is consulted wherever future issues are involved – at the VDS Trend Forum, for instance, the key convention of the German Sanitary Industry Association (Vereinigung Deutsche Sanitärwirtschaft e. V., VDS), where Wippermann gave a lecture outlining his visionary interpretation of demographic developments.
We’d love to populate our bathroom with plants: flowering, fragrant, rampant plants glistening with beads of water. But seriously: whether we think back to our last holiday by the sea as we enjoy a relaxing bath or step out onto the patio after our morning shower to take a few deep breaths of fresh air – we rarely feel as in touch with nature during the course of our daily routine as we do in the bathroom.
In the first two parts of the interview Andreas Dornbracht has talked about demographic and architectonical solutions in the bathroom. The third and last part deals with ecology.
The new landmark of Frankfurt airport, The Squaire, is deemed to be a masterpiece of contemporary architecture and aesthetic design. Its concept creates a unique experience of urbane sophistication by fusing offices, shopping facilities, restaurants and bars as well as hotels under one roof. This international business hotel not only benefits from its pre-eminent location at one of Europe’s most important air travel hubs but also treats its guests to a first-rate experience which blends all-round comfort with modern style. In the guest bathrooms, the design character of the house is accentuated by selected premium fittings from Grohe.
The work of architect Andrea Wirges-Klein (born in 1963) stands for what springs to mind when you think of holistic architecture: she plans and supervises new buildings that are progressive yet liveable, modernises context-sensitive existing buildings, refurbishes and redesigns listed buildings and provides advice and support for both private clients and public projects.
What should a bathroom look like? The standard array of shower or tub, toilet and basin, a mirror above it and maybe a little cupboard over there... all in a nice straight line up against the wall? That’s all in the past. But the bathroom’s shift in meaning, away from pure practicality and towards more ambience and cosiness, still has to find suitable forms of expression.
Obviously not everybody has a castle at their disposal where the various generations of the family can get together; but that isn’t actually that important anyway. The main thing is that both young and old feel at ease in the room which, for a growing number of people, is becoming the basic prerequisite for a self-determined life – the bathroom.
On the occasion of the ISH in Frankfurt, the world’s leading fair for the entire sanitation, heating and air-conditioning sector, Jens J. Wischmann, managing director of the VDS, explains the revolutionary ideas behind the pictures and headings of the new “Pop up my Bathroom” campaign.