Bathrooms present opportunities for designers to experiment with the function of an essential resource, and also provide them with the chance to integrate new technologies for showers and toilets. Futuristic bathrooms are being designed particularly with green technology in mind. Other bathrooms are simply impressive because they have advanced toilets that can talk to you and even give you advice, e.g on diet and lifestyle. Bathrooms are a challenge for designers, in the sense that they need to keep their basic functions, while giving the user something new in terms of a bathing experience, or taking the environment into consideration since bathrooms and toilets have a great impact on energy usage. Incorporating green bathroom initiatives by considering renewable energy could be the next step in designing innovative futuristic bathrooms. Currently, some of the most innovative bathroom designs include:
1 – Futuristic Bathrooms
There are a lot of futuristic bathrooms on the market, and some in the pipeline at a conceptual stage. A new designer came up with a novel recycling system, which uses sink water that is piped into a toilet cistern for flushing. This piping system was developed by Jang Woo-Seok. Other unusual designs include the Apollo steam shower, where you recline rather than stand, and the Relaxation Bath that has inbuilt vibration, music and video systems.
2 – Intelligent Toilet
The Japanese have come up with myriad unusual but appealing gadgets in recent years, including intelligent toilets that have been eagerly adopted by both private household bathrooms and corporate toilets. More advanced designs can test, based on your changing faeces, your blood sugar level and your blood pressure, and make sensible recommendations about how to change your diet and exercise regime.
3 – ‘H20 in Geometry’
One of the more unusual concepts in bathroom innovation is ‘H20 in Geometry,’ a room designed by Bulgarian firm Gemelli. This bathroom is based on a split level, with the bath tub and shower at one end, and the rest of the bathroom at the other. The room is influenced by Asian philosophies of balancing the harmony of a room with good ‘feng shui’. As a result, the room features a lot of rounded shapes, and lighting set up to create the optimal mood for relaxation.
4 – Pop-Up ‘Night’ Bathrooms
A UK designer came up with the notion of pop-up bathrooms, or more precisely public urinals, that are raised from ground level at night time around large cities and then go back underground in the morning, hopefully without anyone still inside them. The utilitarian design is an excellent example of function over style for these pods, making pop-up bathrooms one of the more ingenious ideas for cleaning up our streets, catering for late night party-goers, and improving the environment.
5 – SilverTAG showers
Walk-in showers are already impressive in terms of providing a deeper soak while standing up and creating a sauna effect in a waterproof room. SilverTAG showers take this one step further, without losing the shower unit. Computer controlled jets spray water at you from multiple directions, resulting in more efficient cleaning. However, at $100,000, it’s unlikely that a lot of people will be rushing to install this futuristic shower.
Author: Lisa Gan is interested in innovative green energy initiatives.
