Thinking about Dornbracht - Symetrics...

This chapter/sub-chapter needs to be a more in-depth analysis of the Symetrics products. Lots of re-wording to be established but it's a start.

SYMETRICS

"Symetrics opens up new perspectives in bathroom planning. It 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." TAKEN FROM SYMETRICS ON DORNBRACHT WEBSITE - CITE

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 that 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.

Thinking about Dornbracht - Statements...

Dornbracht is a German company specializing in 'ritual based architecture'. They are one of my most valuable precedents and so I have a few examples of their work to discuss in my Thesis. Potentially more...

STATEMENTS

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." Dornbracht, 2005, P. 21

"What does a space look like that makes room for our rituals, regardless of whether conscious or unconscious, important or irrelevant, large or small?" Dornbracht, 2005, 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." PAGE NUMBER - SEE ARCHITECTURE UNPLUGGED

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." Dornbracht, 2005, 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.

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.

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.