Wild and wet: the new bathrooms getting in touch with nature

Today, architects are experimenting with radical ways to make bathrooms porous spaces that blend seamlessly with other areas of the house or with the great outdoors. No other room is associated more strongly with the elements — in this case, water — and by extension with nature, so it’s apt that they’re being designed to flow into neighbouring rooms and even gardens, the latter allowing bathrooms to be naturally ventilated. This link with nature is echoed by the current trend for natural ‘stone, soft lighting, plants and hardwood floors in bathrooms’, notes Philippe Grohe, Head of Axor/Hansgrohe.

Even the notion of privacy is gradually being jettisoned, judging by a mini-trend for glass-fronted bathrooms, which suggests that many of us are becoming less inhibited or even blatantly exhibitionistic. Clearly bathrooms that merge with gardens work better in warmer climes. For their Light+Light house in Indonesia’s Jakarta region, architects Studio Ton Ton have created a bathroom which literally embraces nature: a guava tree grows at its centre, bringing an organic element into an otherwise minimalist interior. The walls are made of wood louvres affording glimpses of the tropical vegetation outside, although strips of frosted acrylic between the louvres give the homeowners some privacy. Light+Light’s bathroom is part and parcel of the key concept behind the house — to fuse indoors and out.

A similar principle lies behind Aamer Architects’ residential project Merryn Road 40A in Singapore, whose bathrooms connect directly to its lush gardens. With their dark brick walls and wood floor and boulder in the shower area, the bathrooms’ interiors feel cave-like and the adjoining garden extra-lush by comparison, especially in sunlight. ‘Bathing semi-outdoors amid gardens and nature is very common in luxury resorts in Asia,’ says architect Aamer Taher. ‘I wanted to bring that feel to the Merryn House.’

Meanwhile, those using the outré, glass-fronted bathroom of Thailand’s Wonderwall house are in full view of anyone swimming in the adjacent pool. Its architect Narong Othavorn, of practice SO, claims that this unusual arrangement is simply practical: ‘I wanted the owner to be able to shower right after swimming.' But, more importantly, the house aims to blur indoors and out, hence its outdoor kitchen and roof terrace also used as an outdoor cinema.

Even more exposed is the bathroom in architect Yamazaki Kentaro’s two-storey House in Kashiwa in Japan. Also known as the Unfinished House, this family home is conceived as a neutral, flexible container adaptable to changing needs. The first-floor rooms have no predetermined function, while those on the ground floor, including the bathroom, housed in a transparent glass box, are permanent fixtures. In the latter, the family members have no choice but to wave goodbye to their privacy. But perhaps the private bathroom is on its way to becoming passé? With homes becoming increasingly open-plan the idea isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds.

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