We want to have it even better in our bathrooms in future. And we want the ultimate in technical convenience too. But without any complicated gimmicks, if you please, so that everyone can use it and we can all live barrierfree lives. It should be natural too, of course - and ecologically compatible. An exciting task for the industry, its designers and architects.
For the ISH 2013, the trend forum "Pop up my Bathroom" will once again be presenting the latest bathroom trends, this time for 2013/14. The trend platform takes a look at both the needs bathroom users are already practising and those that are still unmet and uses them as the basis for developing different types of bathrooms that are intended to meet users' future requirements.
The modern bathroom is the embodiment of retreat into a world of one's own, far removed from everyday life. In future, as the core area of a private home that is increasingly becoming the focal point of life, the bathroom will gain even more significance – as an isolated bubble within a permeable living cocoon.
One reason why nature is such an attractive theme for the retreat embodied by the Bathroom Bubble is of course that our modern lifestyle has become so far removed from it. Unspoiled nature is the counterpoint to our reality, which is dominated by an urban feel and the ubiquitous presence of other people, noise and architecture. In the Bathroom Bubble we seek solitude, tranquillity and often also natural, authentic-looking surroundings.
The bathroom has never been pervaded by such an overwhelming sense of freedom as during this year's Pop up my Bathroom project: an extremely forward-looking concept for future development tendencies, make-believe bathroom scenarios (who's ever heard of a beer garden as the backdrop for a bathroom?) and, above all, an abundance of open sky.
“Pop up my Bathroom” is an information campaign by the German sanitary industry. Under this unusual motto, we aim to inform professional bathroom designers, architects and the media about trends in the bathroom – both in terms of consumers’ needs and developments within the sector.
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.
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.
Life in the city, right in the thick of it. Different people and cultures live side by side, with different daily rhythms, different music, different family structures. Even the architecture itself is a reflection of this diversity: closely spaced rows of houses and obstructed views alternate with open squares and expansive vistas, stone rubs shoulders with greenery, little terraced houses stand shoulder to shoulder with tower buildings. A place for individualists.