Digital Bathroom

Classic bathroom products and high-tech functions are merging into the Digital Bathroom. Even today, a wave of the hand is all it takes to start the water running or bathe the room in the desired light. It’s all possible thanks to complex digital controls that are either hidden away behind the wall or concealed in the products themselves. The innovations the industry is showcasing at the ISH 2019 indicate what direction the bathroom is evolving in.

 

Twisting knobs and pulling levers is out – these days, washbasin mixers and shower fittings are operated with a push or a gesture instead. Especially in the fittings segment, the little technology revolution taking place in the bathroom is influencing many of the new products making their debut at the ISH 2019. Whereas up until now contact-free technology for controlling and regulating the flow of water was largely restricted to the public sphere, it is now conquering the private spa as well.

But far from being a mere gimmick, the mushrooming presence of technical features in the bathroom helps meet very concrete (everyday) requirements, allowing the bathroom to be adapted to users’ ergonomic needs and adjusted to their changing circumstances if necessary.

As for the various groups of users, millennials are of course perfectly used to the omnipresence of technical features in anything to do with communication and control, whereas older generations have a little more trouble with such things. And yet it’s precisely older users who stand to benefit the most from intelligent product features, because they aren’t just more convenient to use, they improve safety as well. That’s why intuitive usability is a top priority for such sophisticated controls. The attractive product applications the industry is developing for both groups of users will change the market dramatically over the next few years.

Big news: the water outlet can be positioned independently of the controls

Many products for the bathroom are currently receiving a great deal of attention because they are experiencing a kind of evolutionary leap: digitalisation. As in the car industry, an entire product cosmos has to be rethought. Functions and controls are changing, and with them the fundamental parameters for fittings, vanity units and showers. Besides the targeted selection of various water modes, programmes and individual functions in the shower and elsewhere, bathroom lighting is another area that is making rapid headway. Thanks to modern LED technology, light can be used to emotionalise the room and take its spatial quality to a whole new level. Electricity is also needed for the numerous touchless fittings that are becoming increasingly popular not just in public buildings but in private homes as well – partly because of their slender proportions.

Many of the new products are operated by pushing a button. Besides the ergonomic advantages, that provides various other benefits as well. Only a single button is needed to change the spray mode on the hand shower, for instance, and the temperature can be adjusted just as conveniently. It’s often even possible to position the water outlet independently of the controls – in the case of a shower toilet, for example. And with basin and thermostatic mixers, there’s no longer any need to fiddle about trying to get the temperature right with soapy hands – that too can now be done at the push of a button. Even selecting the spray modes on the shower head itself is much more convenient than before thanks to new functions integrated into the hand shower.

The Digital Bathroom is remotely controlled, individually programmed and cosily lit

Other types of technology are finding their way into the bathroom via apps, gesture control and mirror cabinets: these days there is an app that will run a bath for you when you’re getting near the end of your jogging session, and another that displays the morning weather report on the mirror cabinet. The vanity unit and mirror cabinet also seem to be the starting point for many of the other innovations making their way into the latest product developments. In future, for example, the entire lighting design in a medium-sized bathroom will be concentrated in the vanity ensemble – thanks to specially developed LED luminaires that provide the ambient lighting as well. And an integrated heating surface on the mirror cabinet ensures a clear view after showering.

The shower toilet, which is becoming increasingly popular in Northern Europe, could well become one of the best-selling products in the Digital Bathroom. Many a sanitaryware manufacturer now features the added-value toilet in its range, and more than a few first-time users and product testers can no longer imagine life without the hygiene advantages it provides. But regardless of whether a shower toilet is to be fitted or not, it’s definitely worthwhile having the bathroom rewired while it’s being renovated because the new digital equipment doesn’t just need water, it needs electricity too.