The lab of luxury: AXOR

Luxury has long been defined by the principle of generosity – in the use of space, resources and gestures. But now this is changing. More and more people of all income classes are discovering city life and it’s getting increasingly crowded in the world’s metropolises. Rents and purchase prices are on the rise. Those who can still afford lavishly expansive residential spaces have either been living in their urban domiciles forever, or are clinging to an outdated image of material excess.

Somewhere in between, a new moderated understanding of luxury is emerging. ‘What can architects and interior designers do not just to optimise urban dwellings but to enhance them? To infuse them with character, meaning and soul?’ asks AXOR as part of its Compact Luxury project. The bathroom fixtures manufacturer from the Black Forest responds with a look into the future. In cooperation with London-based futures consultancy The Future Laboratory, a whitepaper entitled ‘Compact Luxury’ was created, providing information on trends for urban living in general and for the bathroom in particular.

Even under the leitmotif of ‘compact’, though, this by no means needs to mean ‘small’. Rather, as described by the authors of the report, the bathroom is becoming a place of individualised well-being. While open-plan bathrooms have enjoyed popularity of late – with many hotels leading by example – floor plans are increasingly ‘closing up’ again in order to provide spaces for private retreat. In addition, there is a greater demand for sustainability in the bathroom – in terms of materials as well as responsible use of resources.

And then the authors of the whitepaper look a little further ahead and imagine multifunctional bathroom elements that perfect minimalism: faucets that double as antiviral hand dryers, or a bathroom scale concealed beneath heated floor tiles.

While some of these ideas may represent visions of the future that are a little further away, the six bathroom concepts on the theme of ‘Compact Luxury’ that AXOR presents on its website stay closer to the present. From small to large bathrooms, the manufacturer provides inspiration for a diverse spectrum of cosmopolitan living styles: Contemporary Natural Large, for example, a 19-sqm bathroom that gazes out over the Shanghai skyline through floor-to-ceiling windows with metal mesh screening. A rosewood bathtub, marble-look washbasin and walls, and faucets from the AXOR Citterio collection – adorned with the newly introduced lever handle with a refined diamond cut.

The Modern Simplicity bathroom concept, on the other hand, is much brighter and warmer: white walls, a travertine washbasin, an oak bathtub, and a shower so large that the whole family could fit underneath. Still a good 17 sqm in size, the bathroom is flooded with natural light. The archaic silhouette of the faucets from the new AXOR One collection by Barber & Osgerby rounds off the look of simplicity.

At nine sqm, the smallest of the six bathrooms resembles a cosy cocoon made of teak. It embodies the concept of International Elegance and is aimed at people who feel more at home out in the world than in a fixed location. Compact luxury is reflected here in golden fixtures and accessories from the AXOR One and AXOR Starck collections.

Finally, Compact Luxury is translated from concept to reality in five impressive reference projects. Nendo architect Oki Sato, for example, designed the Stairway House in Tokyo’s densely built-up Shinjuku district. A surreal staircase connects the exterior and interior. And as small as the space for the house is, it is loaded with character.

Equally extraordinary is the retrospective infill on the rooftop of the Stealth Building in New York. In addition to the sensitive core renovation of the residential structure with its historic cast-iron facade, a building on top of the building was created from plans by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood of WORKac. A three-story penthouse, it sits enthroned among Manhattan’s skyscrapers, offices and residential buildings. Mezzanine floors and an indoor garden magnify the sense of space and reflect the principles of Compact Luxury. ‘In our work, we’re always pushing this idea of what we can bring from nature or the wild or rural life, into the city’ explains Dan Wood in an interview with AXOR. On the topic of luxury, Amale Andraos calls it a word ‘to be reinvented’.

A fitting term. Because AXOR has been doing just that for nearly three decades, each day anew.

© Architonic