Bathroom Trends at the ISH 2009

Pop up the bathroom

The 10 most important trends in the bathroom

In cooperation with the ISH/Messe Frankfurt we have identified the ten most important development trends that are currently influencing bathroom design or will do so in the near future. These trends are not mutually exclusive but take up various aspects, some of which can also be combined with each other. The trends wil be shown at the ISH at Hall 3.1, A 98; a special press kit is also available. 

Soft bathroom
The avant-garde bathroom of the future is softer and features less in the way of technological gimmicks. Innovative products have brought about a new approach to the bathroom, one in which people can move easily without any hard edges and corners.
The emphasis is on new or unusual materials rather than technical features: materials that are warm and velvety, with thick carpets, upholstered pedestals and flexible plastics to enhance the feeling of intimacy. The soft look applies not only to the forms and colours but also to the lighting. The symbol of the soft bathroom is the new, soft-clad bathtub. Manufacturers and designers are looking for new plastics for use in bathrooms that are soft and resilient but also stable and hygienic. The trend towards organic and volume-driven design initiated by digital design programs is also in keeping with this “soft” development and combines with the desire for a natural look.

Green bathroom
In the green bathroom, economy, a good conscience and wellness join forces. Natural, environmentally sound materials and timeless design dominate, while the sanitary fittings highlight the technological know-how of the industry.
Consumers are aware of the need for a sustainable approach to natural resources and the dependence on scarce and costly energy reserves. The international trend towards sustainable green design is perhaps the most influential tendency in the conception, design and technology of the bathroom. Since bathrooms use both water and energy, the technology of the green bathroom helps to economise on these two commodities without any sacrifices in terms of convenience and offers a selection of environmentally sound materials and durable fitted elements.

Fashion bathroom
As the bathroom assumes a more central role in a living environment, fashion considerations are also important. It is becoming just as much an indication of personal taste as other rooms in the home like the kitchen or living room.
It is therefore open to all-embracing schemes that take in not only the bathroom fittings but also the walls and shower curtain, towels and other accessories, bringing fashion into the bathroom with a selection of products introduced into the market by fashion brands cooperating in many cases with sanitary manufacturers. Timeless and clean-lined design concepts with fashionable accessories are also in demand for modern bathrooms.

Easy bathroom
In view of demographic developments, modern bathroom designers also have to make life as easy as possible for people of all ages. The Easy bathroom concept focuses on a universal human element in which no one, be they young or old, needs to feel excluded or put off by complicated functions, stylish gimmicks or technical gobbledegook.
The ability to manage our own lives is of prime importance today, unobstructed by either illness or age. Integration is the solution for a society that can no longer afford to exclude the elderly and handicapped from social and economic life. The new barrier-free bathroom is practical, versatile and chic. It is notable less for special aids than for its simple functionality, high error tolerance and well-conceived and flexible design. Aids and appliances can be integrated discreetly where needed. The style is no different from a conventional design-oriented bathroom. The Easy bathroom seeks to make special needs a matter of course.

Design for a better bath
Design offers huge potential for bathrooms with a minimalist, natural or poetic character. These days modern sanitary concepts play a pioneering role in product and interior design.
The trend towards design in the bathroom is not a new development but rather the sign of an established product culture — a mega-trend whose influence is vital to all new product and concept developments. The elite idea of a designer bathroom is passé: design in the standard version of a new bathroom is just less pronounced than in a designer bathroom, whose key element is the distinctive handwriting of a specific designer. Regardless of the emphasis, design today provides the stimulus, incentive for ideas and innovation and the driving force behind the style of every bathroom. Harmonious lines in the collections are attributable just as much to the designer’s influence as to the sculptural quality of the individual elements. At the same time the trend is towards free formal expression within the individual elements, bringing greater variation to the model design and avoiding stereotyping. Design also provides ideas for new uses for the bathroom and paves the way for technical innovations. Above all, however, designers have ensured that the bathroom has finally become a room in its own right: through the quality of the objects and their integration in interior design and layout concepts.

Private spa
Wellness is becoming an end in itself in the bathroom, and in the private spa this culture takes on a definite form. The demand for luxury, aesthetic appeal and the cult of the body combine in a sophisticated concept that enables these experiences to be enjoyed in intimate privacy.
Private spa is a bathroom concept that makes routine into ritual and water into an experience with accessories such as rainfall showers or whirlpool tubs, furniture and sensory effects. The private spa is the expression of a new approach to luxury that consists of finding space and time for physical and emotional well-being. Increasingly, the room of choice for this experience is the bathroom. While the kitchen is the communicative centre in modern living, the private spa remains a very personal sphere. This trend is in line with the desire to recreate the luxury of a spa or hotel bathroom, combining conventional bathroom activities with relaxation and regeneration in the privacy of the home. The willingness of customers to invest in an elaborate private spa reflects the fact that wellness in the bathroom is a complex subject that involves not only the bathtub but also soft factors such as the atmosphere, sensory environment and ritual uses.

Water love
Never before have consumers been so strongly attracted by water — in its pure form, as a waterfall in the shower or washbasin, as a rainfall shower or in a colour-illuminated bathroom. And never before has the emotional response to water been as great as it is today, with new products from tap fitting manufacturers and purist designs for bathtubs, basins and walk-in showers.
Water is the real feel-good factor in the bathroom — both in its use for body care and in its sensory properties. Water is perceived increasingly not only as a cleansing medium but also as an elemental force. There are various ways of making water perceptible: through waterfall basin mixers, showers, side nozzles or combined configurations. In its natural form it is fascinating and unbridled. By creating a waterfall effect or doing without aerators its elemental character is emphasised and the relationship between man and water given a tactile dimension. Some purist basin mixers can even be fitted with water-saving devices. Rainfall and large overhead showers, by contrast, offer the last word in luxury but higher water consumption.

Homing
The trend towards using the home not only for private life but also for business (entertaining, teleworking, etc.) has also led to a new definition of the bathroom as a room in which the user frequently spends additional time beyond the daily routine.
Homing has enhanced the value of the bathroom. As a result of the transformation of the wet cell into a bathroom, the bathroom style, while retaining specific functions, is more adapted to the living environment as a whole. The upgrading of the bathroom into a fitness room, TV or music room and the new technical features make the transition to the living area more transparent. New features in the modern bathroom include the homely materials and furniture, sophisticated technology and open integration into the living area as a whole.

Techness
Design and high-quality German sanitary engineering combine in a highly productive symbiosis that has proved extremely successful over the last few years and will once again present pioneering innovations at the ISH 2009. These new items arouse the consumer’s need for sexy electronic fittings, contactless operation or pushbutton control of showers and other features.
Seldom has the sanitary industry experienced such a surge of innovations, as electronic products penetrate into the private sphere. New bathroom technologies improve our daily life and are typical of a new generation of products that give priority to their users’ needs. The technical developments not only reflect the need for convenience and the love of gimmicks but also have a highly rational utility: thanks to the new technologies tap fittings are smaller, water consumption is reduced and life in the bathroom is not only more emotional but also easier. But non-electronic products such as huge ergonomically proportioned overhead or hand-held showers can also stimulate design and highlight the industry’s technical competence. From Asia, by contrast, a completely different product category is coming to Europe: the shower WC with electronic fittings ranging from MP3 player to online communication with the family doctor  — although for the time being these gimmicks will be of less importance in Western households than the hygienic and pleasant convenience that appliances of this type bring with them.

Interior concepts
The idea of the bathroom as a rectangular box with washbasin, WC and bathtub lined up against the wall is out-of-date. Today holistic bathroom concepts are available that divide the room into interior design modules. The sanitary industry has turned the bathroom into a room with different zones for hygiene, styling or regeneration.
Bathroom design is no longer “just” product design. The change in function and significance of the bathroom influences not only the products but also the room, its size and structure. Manufacturers are planning new bathroom collections increasingly with account taken of the way the room is used and conceived. These concepts respond to the consumer need for all-round bathroom design and can contain recommendations for interior design, materials, colours, combinations, lighting, accessories and lots more. The sanitary objects project into the room or are placed centrally to create visual axes, contiguous or screened zones. Showers become room dividers, wall panel elements incorporate tap fittings and washbasins, and the WC disappears if not completely from the bathroom then at least into a separate niche. The rest of the bathroom is defined as a living area that can be enhanced through the inclusion of relaxing furniture and carpets.

Concept and realisation: Vereinigung Deutsche Sanitärwirtschaft e.V. (VDS) / far_consulting, Frank A. Reinhardt, Claudia Wanninger

Organiser: Messe Frankfurt in cooperation with the Association of the German Sanitary Industry (Vereinigung  Deutsche Sanitärwirtschaft e.V. (VDS)
10 – 14 March 2009         Hall 3.1, A 98

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