From home spas to hydrotherapy: How modern bathrooms have evolved to provide a sense of well-being
Luxury bathroom designs incorporate wellness elements that nurture and inspire
It’s the one place in the home where a person can truly be alone, to indulge in rituals that soothe, rest and restore. Hence, in designing luxury projects for her clients, Hong Kong designer Rowena Gonzales, of Liquid Interiors, looks for every opportunity to incorporate wellness elements that nurture and inspire.
Bathrooms that are out of the ordinary by bringing a spa feel into the home make well-being an everyday experience, rather than a luxury, she says.
Antoine Besseyre Des Horts, vice-president of design at Lixil Water Technology Asia, agrees that the elevated role of the once-humble bathroom has fuelled demand for wellness products that support our needs for living healthily, responsibly and beautifully.
To meet that criteria, he says, the modern bathroom “must be easy to use and clean, ergonomic, safe, provide a sense of well-being, and express one’s personal style”.
Spatially, the designer points out, the bathroom is one more area of the home where traditional boundaries are dissolving. Just as the kitchen has merged with the living room to create a new social space, the bathroom blends more and more with the bedroom to form a private retreat. This requires more attention to be paid to the design, so that the lighting, colours and materials chosen reflect the room’s changing status.
If they have room, many people still want a bathtub so they can luxuriate uninterrupted in a long, hot soak. Baths with ergonomic designs provide the ultimate comfort, and there’s no doubting the visual appeal of a glamorous free-standing tub, like the sinuous Veil bath from Kohler, or the lure of a Japanese hot spring-inspired soak in INAX’s new S600 and S400 lines, launched globally at Milan Design Week 2019.
the modern bathroom must be easy to use and clean, ergonomic, safe, provide a sense of well-being, and express one’s personal style
That’s not the only way to enjoy a restorative hydrotherapy session at home now that spa experiences are built into showers.
Grohe’s new Euphoria SmartControl shower system, for example, lets you tailor your own experience at the touch of a button. “Depending on your mood, or the time of day, you can choose a powerful, invigorating spray for an energising start to the morning, or unwind with a relaxing, ‘soft as summer rain’ spray in the evening,” Besseyre Des Horts says. The technology ensures that the water temperature stays precisely as you like it.