Film_Post-shower

This film captures my personal routines, rituals, actions and movements post-shower. This is perhaps the most personal actions, for me, that happen within the bathroom. During this time I dry myself and apply my daily moisturizers and steroid cremes as part of my treatment for eczema. Because of this, the bathroom - in terms of showering and bathing - has become more of a chore than an enjoyment for me. Once again I have used the same camera technique (all 3 films were filmed at the same time) and the reflections of the body on the architecture suggest my movement within the bathroom.

Film_Showering

Carrying on from the previous uploaded film, this film captures my act of showering in my bathroom. In the same manner as the previous film, I have reflected myself subtly in the bathroom floor tiles. It is a nice metaphor of the relationship between body and architecture.

Film_Pre-shower

This is the first film I made trying to capture my personal movements, actions and routines when preparing to get in the shower. I have been playing around with camera angles, as you can see, and have covered part of the camera lens. The visual image you can see as the viewer is myself reflected in the bathroom's floor tiles. I think it's quite beautiful reflected - remaining ambiguous or foreign to the viewer, yet familiar in terms of sound perhaps.

Monday 15th August_Diary Entry

My house today in the snow

Filming the Bathroom/Sound in the Bathroom

Filming the bathroom has proven more difficult than I thought! I keep bloomin' forgetting to take my camera with me so so-far I've only managed to film one whole shower and today's preparation for showering (because the battery died just as I climbed in the shower!). I've put it on charge now and I'm going to carry it around with me like it's an extra body part - same with my 'diary'.

Camera Angles_I've been playing around with camera angles in the bathroom. The bathroom, being a personal space, should remain so. I've been trying to film snippets of the bathing experience to keep the bathing/showering/brushing/cleaning (and so on) personal to me.

Sound_will become a valuable tool in the recording of my time in the bathroom. Using visuals will show the viewer my ritual, and so could sound. Sounds are correlative of a movement, action or ritual in the bathroom - this method of recording is quite ambiguous because each bathroom user has their own movements, actions and routines. I'm pretty sure that not many people who listen to my sound-scape will have eczema and this will impact my sound recording quite dramatically.

Video to follow once my camera is charged :)

Sunday 14th August_Diary Entry

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3rd day of the bathroom diary.

Had bit of an eventful start to the day as you will see when you read it. Im going to use Sketchup to generate some models for Sunday later tonight (monday)! The diary is useful for writing the specific routines I have as I do them, it's not so useful for visualizing my design so I need to get creative!

Saturday 13th August_Diary Entry

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Today was my first full diary entry. In have written my bathroom experiences in extreme detail. This was also the first bathroom day to be filmed/recorded digitally. 

The 13th of August takes me on the journey through brushing my teeth in the morning, what else I do while I brush my teeth - such as scratching my back, brushing my hair, the constant battle I have with my fringe to make it stay in place, storing soap, getting undressed, another battle with my hair, adjusting the shower head, itching my knees and elbows, washing myself in the shower, applying soap in the shower, lastly washing my face because I hate water on it, squeegee-ing the shower after using it, drying myself after my shower - starting with my face, dolloping my moisturizer onto my skin and rubbing it all over, the use of steroid-based moisturizers and applying them sparingly, getting dressed into my pjs after my moisturizing and leaving the bathroom after my shower. Finally I re-brush my teeth, remember that I should be filming while I brush my teeth and start scratching again. 

The final image is a sketch of the movements I describe in the bathroom. 

Friday 12th August_Diary Entry

Today was pretty uneventful, having started my diary half-way through the day most bathroom activities have gone without recognition.

I have noticed that the activities noted in my diary all involve the use of the mirror. Today's sketch is pretty boring - a sink and mirror that can accommodate hair fixing and teeth brushing.

Lorna's Bathroom Diary

Objective: To monitor my bathroom usage, what I do in the bathroom and to clarify daily routines or deviations from routine for myself [in the bathroom]. To include other bathroom activities in my research project and design for them. 

Commencement: Friday 12th August 2011, at 3.00pm

Each day I will record what I do in the bathroom through notes, sentences, diagrams and film studies. At the end of each day I will sketch a quick drawing of what I imagine that day's bathroom to look like - using activities to generate form. This will be used alongside existing digital modelling already completed to create a unique daily 'bath-room'. 

Film studies will be conducted on a daily basis to record the sound of the bathroom throughout my duration within the space, and a visual recording will be conducted also (to be determined yet). 

Entering the bathroom, I will take note of date, time and reason for entering. As I am conducting my bathroom activities I will record what I am doing/have done. At the end of each day I will scan the diary onto this blog.

This analysis of my bathroom will be conducted over a month period starting from today. 

Supervision notes

_Skype! Need to fix problem. I re-tested it from my laptop to my parents PC and it worked so hopefully it will be fine for next session, but we could still do a test run.

_Make list more specific to me, could have a list/record of what I do daily. Keep a pencil & paper in the bathroom? Have a diary over a period of time (week, month etc) - will probably go for a month but start using the data immediately.
 - - - - could do a quick sketch/model of each day's bathroom?? What would today's bathroom require? Visual and literary diary.
Keep track of what happens in my bathroom everyday - bored of routine and deviate? The more I add the denser it will become i.e. "Contacts in before nasal spray".

_Could keep a film diary. Film myself in the bathroom everyday - not just showering or bathing, but the other routines that I do. Hair, moisturize, make-up.

_Be specific. When I say moisturize I need to specify how I moisturize, with what do I moisturize and where? How long does it take me, how much do I apply and make it personal to me. Otherwise it could be anyone, has to be specific!

_Gender wasn't obvious on the previous list until I mentioned make-up - imagine that more things I do will be gender-specific. Georges Perec - Species of Spaces - looking at home in terms of rituals of life. Request from Massey and Google. See if anything else by him catches my eye. Initimus - might be a useful taster.

_Copper - what can copper do? Material properties, how can it be used? Need to know how a material works if I'm going to pursue the qualities of a material.

_If entirely digital, will need ti address the qualities of the material through digital work. How do I do that?

_Google survey? What do I do in the bathroom? See what comes up - they may be things I haven't considered yet and I might need to do so.

_Think backwards. Think about the end result/final presentation/exhibition. What do I want to have? Then I know what I have to do.
Give myself short deadlines which I have to complete - stay creative.

_Crit 2. Crit is going to be over 2 days so we have the opportunity to think things through - where do we want to present, how do we want to present? Think about how things are going to be exhibited.
 - - - - - Soundscape. This could be from my diary. Filmic diary. Present sounds of the bathroom as an accompaniment to my presentation? How does this aid my work? How do I interpret in terms of design?

_Writing workshop. Find out when my flights are to Wellington and tell JP so I can attend.

What do I use the 'bathroom' for?

Primary uses of my bathroom are:

• shower or to bath
• dry myself after washing
• moisturize
• apply creams to my skin (medication for eczema)
• get dressed after cleaning/moisturizing
• wash my hands
• brush my teeth
• look in the mirror
• brush/do my hair

These uses are mostly a linear process of a rigorous daily routine I personally have to maintain. 

Shower/bath > dry > moisturize > apply creme > apply steroids (if necessary) > wash hands of steroids > get dressed > do my hair.

Secondary uses of my bathroom:

• apply make-up (occasionally)
• relax
• think
• do nothing, place to just day-dream

The bathroom for me is very much a functional room primarily, it is a place for me to clean myself and take care of my skin (which requires a lot of creams, steroids and a strict routine to keep it maintained). Secondary to this, it is a place for me to think, process, relax and get away from the rest of the house and be by myself - to me it is a room I can guarantee no interruptions and allow me to be by myself. 

The above speak to specific rituals my bathroom has to be able to accommodate. 

My 'Bathroom'_03.08.11

Got my laptop back so now I can get back to what I was working on before it's meltdown.

03.08.11
Bathroom Revelations

At home in Chch: Cleaning/cleansing rituals have changed slightly - they are still rituals as they are specific action I perform when I  have a bath or a shower - but my body is now occupying a different space to the one it was occupying in Wellington. This, to me, reinforces the need to move around the space/vessel provided our bodies are provided with as opposed to our bodies being able to move in a free-flowing motion and avoid these existing walls etc.

Film studies_Part 2_Chch
Film myself showering/bathing/cleaning/cleansing in my new home. Compare these films to the existing films I have of myself in Wellington. Highlight the specific rituals for myself and reflect on findings.

_Investigations into my shower in Chch and how it compares to Wellington. Diagrammatic sketches.

Shower/bath, Wellington
Standard vessel with shower curtain around side and foot of bath, tiled wall on opposite side with small window at shoulder height and tiled wall with shower head on it.

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Shower, Christchurch

Shape of shower (or area to shower in comparison to Wellington) is more fitting to the body as it would typically shower. Shaped for your arms/washing hair etc but only facing as you walk in, no room for rotation. Glass door and small side panels with splash-guard walls.

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The shower is well designed in plan for facing the drain (image 2), but as you can see from image 3 of the shower, there isn't much room for rotation. 

___for bath as well - sketch

Balance Modules_Dornbracht

Ritual Architecture_Balance Modules_Dornbracht  (pdf)

Some nice text in the document relating to rituals and architecture, specifically hygiene rituals in the domestic home.



"The Dornbracht BALANCE MODULES also make the individual, with his or her habits and rituals, the focal point. They expand the purely functional and technical aspects of the bathroom to include the dimension of human rituals, actions and habits. This is not principally a matter of formal considerations. The modules are rather a new interface between the user and his rituals."

_This demonstrates that Dornbracht has similar principals to me in regards to bathroom design. Dornbracht seek to make visible the habits or rituals one performs in the bathroom setting - I also seek to do this. However, Dornbracht are still more product focused which is where we are different. I intend to design a room that makes visible the individual rituals and routines of a specific user - the method for which could be applied to any user theoretically - but make a whole room, not a product. 

RAINSKY (above), one of Dornbrachts products (or non-products) is described as "the first product to dissolve the boundary between fittings and architecture". It's other fittings not being visible on the walls of the bathroom, they are embedded onto the ceiling and highly technological. I'm not sure how I feel about this, although I need to think about this in terms of my own design. 

Noises for Ritual Architecture video

I found the Noises video on YouTube so thought Id post it.
Dornbracht_Noises for Ritual Architecture

Materiality_copper??_"water changes it's surroundings"

Ritual-Architecture - pure naturalness from Dornbracht by Sophia Muckle, 2007 for Stylepark.

Once again Dornbracht have taken center-stage when it comes to ritual architecture. Having a wee Google search I came across this article for Stylepark by Sophia Muckle (11.4.07) and the images in particular caught my eye and got my brain buzzing.

"The contemporary interpretation is produced by the exciting interaction between clear, reduced design language and a mix of old-fashioned and modern materials. Corten steel, copper and olivewood surfaces, on which water leaves its mark, contrasts with the contemporary look of marble, Corian and reflective glass."_Muckle 07

The product description for the Elemental Spa series is as follows:

"The theme of Elemental Spa is the archaic and the original: the element water changes its surroundings. It can make a place unique. That is why Elemental Spa makes water the centre of attention. It becomes the starting point for personal and shared rituals in physical and mental cleansing, and makes the bathroom a refuge for the soul."

I love the idea that water - the thing that rules the bathroom - can change the bathroom. The material choices here are amazing. The use of copper in the bathroom allows one to see where the water and the architecture touch - this could be a measure/a way of making visible the re-occurring bodily contact with space, or the splashes made by the body using the bathroom.
_this materiality is something to consider in my final design.

"Noises for Ritual Architecture"

Mike Meire
Soundscapes
Transformation and reflection of ritual architectures.
Dornbracht Culture Project

"The Dornbracht Culture Projects series presents the first collection of Noises for Ritual Architecture in the Bathroom. MEM, LOGIC and ELEMENTAL (vol. 1-3) reflect the relationship between space, material and movement through ritual architecture and invites people to view the bathing experience as a holistic process." _Dornbracht.

The Noises for Ritual Architecture video interview can be seen here. Mike Meire and Andreas Dornbracht take you through the process for design and the restraints they placed upon themselves coming up with the concept for Noises. 

This project is a valuable precedent in terms of looking at the bathroom in a different, non-conventional way.

Modular tiles & JSPR Studio's Cover Tiles

Section of design_2 tiles.
Thinking about modules. The structure could be a series of modular tiles - or have a modular system in place for bath-room attachments. This method is more product based and I don't really want to go there as it is less about discovering solutions along the way but moreover applying a formula to solve all design problems. It's not necessarily the best way to design.

It also reminds me of JSPR Studio's Cover Tiles. Image above retrieved from Apartment Therapy.
Cover Tiles are a modular system that makes visible the plumbing behind the bathroom's many different components. They have included taps and even the shower head into the tile design.

I consider this to be a beautiful representation of how the function, or workings of the bathroom, can inform the aesthetic qualities of it.

Dornbracht_Symetrics

SYMETRICS BY DORNBRACHT

"Symetrics opens up new perspectives in bathroom planning. This focuses not on the individual series or fitting, but on the room as a whole. By clearly separating the spouts and the controls, the entire appearance of the bathroom is redefined by the arrangement of the modules. This provides diverse application options for each area of the bathroom."

I find this quote quite contradicting to the chapter in Bathroom Uplugged written by Andreas Dornbracht himself. Although the chapter, "People, Ritual, Arhcitecture" focused on the Statements series, I would presume the same ethics and thought to go into the rest of Dornmbracht's bathroom designs.

This method of designing, or redesigning, the bathroom may not actually be as out-of-character as I first thought. I quite like the idea of a module based bathroom - not in the way that they are individual products still, but moreover that they help in catering to individual needs in a way. By making all these individual modules, the buyer is able to purchase the products which reflect their personal bathroom rituals. In saying this however, I don't agree that the bathroom should be "redefined by the arrangement of modules", however the use of a module system could aid in producing a bathroom [partially] unique to it's user. 

Defining 'ritual' for Dornbracht

In "People, Ritual, Architecture", Andreas Dornbracht states,

"The consideration of personal rituals is fundamental to achieving this aim [the shift from 'bathroom user' to 'bathroom occupier']. Because rituals, that is to say highly conscious actions at an ideal level, increase the value of matter, so that everyday things suddenly attain significance." P. 23

Taken from Hebel & Stollmann's Bathroom Unplugged.

This book has been requested back by Massey, but as it has been rather useful and I keep on finding more juicy information in it I will get it again.

"People, Rituals, Architecture"_Andreas Dornbracht

Dornbracht.

Dornbracht is a company in Germany. In Hebel & Stollmann's Bathroom Unplugged: Architecture and Intimacy, Andreas Dornbracht discussed the Dornbracht brand, particulary their "Statements" Culture Project series, which aims to create pieces of "art to represent the "cleaning rituals" theme."

"We have finally reached a point where our collected findings are again able to influence the design of standard shapes. And for once, the product is not the only focus of attention." P. 21

Inez Van Lammsweerde - Statements 02.98
BATHCOUTURE : Four photographers demonstrate the possibilities of photography after photography and cult author Sibylle Berg writes an angry text.

Dornbracht asked a series or artists, fashion designers, photographers to represent "cleaning rituals".

"What does a space look like that makes room for our rituals, regardless of whether conscious or unconscious, important or irrelevant, large or small?" P. 21
The Statements series reflect what the bathroom is/means to the artists, designers etc chosen. Dornbracht states that "...If we want to find ourselves, we must enjoy ourselves. In an individually personalized environment. In our own personal bathroom. A bathroom that, in its entirety, is a kind of interface for our physical and spiritual needs and which also reflects them." This emphasizes, through the Statements series at least, an shift from product-driven to design to user-central design - a "role" described by Dornbract a s "changing from that of "bathroom user" to "bathroom occupier"" - the bathroom has become more than a place to perform certain rituals, but a room to occupy through ritual.

"The discovery here is that it is not just a matter of rendering taste or style, but in particular it is the event, the experience that is paramount." P. 23
Event vs. Experience - event being the ritual one has to perform, or one does perform. The experience being what the occupier feels whilst performing the rituals. For me, the design should be more event based - what one does - as opposed to how one feels whilst doing. The experience should be a consequence of event, and if the design is for the event it should subsequently be a better, more enjoyable experience.

Laptop meltdown

My laptop had a melt-down after trying to install new software - thankfully it was with a Mac specialist at the time. Just need a new HDD, it's been ordered and should get here later today or tomorrow. Woohoo 500GB of it :)

Clean and Decent cont...

The Queen's Bathroom at Knossos is dated from 1700 B.C., even here we can see that the 'bathroom' was in fact a room with a bath in it - it is a room based on the 'product' within it as opposed to a room in itself. However if we look at Roman Baths, they can be defined by "thermae" which is the whole building as a bath, or "balneae" which is the chambers containing the bathing-vessel.

The Queen's Bathroom, above, was filled and emptied by hand, although she had a cistern in her toilet and a drain-able sink - it is thought that the bath water was probably re-used here. I wonder if the filling and emptying of the bath was purposeful and part of the bathing experience? If so, the bath today has resigned to convenience and laziness. Baths were not always as deep as the Queen's Bath - in the times of Agamemnon, a person did not have the ability to recline and water was only a couple of inches deep. This was to deter from "over-indulgence" and baths were "brief and cold" (P. 12).

I quite like the idea of having a shallow bath below the shower - and potentially the water coming from the shower to fill the 'bath'.

Wright, L. (1960). Clean and Decent. Routledge & Kegan Paul; London

P. 5 - One of these baths is 3600 years older than the other.

"[The first known bath] startles because it's form, dating from about 1700 B.c. or some 3600 years ago, is almost identical with the form of today." (Today being 1960). The other bath shown above is dated 1891 B.C.

This poses an interesting question, is the bath vessel we have today (and had in 1700 B.C.) ultimately the best it can be, or can it be re-designed to better? In my opinion, because the bath vessel shown in 'bathrooms' the world over can contain and hold the water we bathe in, we have neglected to further design it to do more than hold the water - with the exception of 'spa-baths' and the likes which have merely added-on extras to the form of the same vessel. It seems that baths have become more aesthetic based than function based - the form for function has been conquered in a rudimentary way - and high emphasis has been placed on the overall aesthetics of the bath itself. Even in 17090 B.C., the bath was a highly aesthetic object.

If we look to the bath vessels of today (2011), we can see that the form of the bath has still not developed much as demonstrated here in Lancamento's Bahheira Nobile at Kitchen & Bath 2011.

The Architecture of Intimacy

Nor Hall: Nov/Dec 2004: UTNE Reader

Whilst searching the net, I found this. The Architecture of Intimacy.

It suggests the individuality of dwellings - specifically of married couples. The author, Nor Hall, has lived with her partner for 15 years and they have never lived together allowing their houses to personalized for themselves. She states "Living in distinct dwellings makes it necessary to be taken in to each other's intimacy. Such a design asks me to consider how my house houses him, and how his house houses me."


Interesting concept when in relation to designing a bathroom for ones-self.

Ant & JP

Ant & Julieannna,

This is the start of my blog. I have managed to get myself set up for Distance Learning so I can now get books from the library etc. Mechanization Takes Command arrived this morning along with Clean and Decent by Lawrence Wright, sub-titles "The Fascinating History of the Bathroom and the Water-closet, and of sundry Habits, Fashions and Accessories of the Toilet" so it should be informing. It also seems to look more into the personification of bathrooms by particular people throughout time, which is quite relevant to my project. It coincidentally quotes Siegfried Giedion whom wrote Mechanization Takes Command.

I have re-requested The Bathroom by Alexander Kira and Bathroom Unplugged: Architecture and Intimacy by Dirk Hebel and Jorg Stollman.

I have also started to read some of Elizabeth Shove's work that Julieanna suggested.

I have also noticed that I shower/bathe differently at my parents home, which reflects upon the differences in spaces/rooms used for bathing/showering. I have decided to do some film studies here - which in a way reflect my thoughts that we negotiate the space we are provided with as opposed to moving freely within it. Thoughts?

Lorna