Hasta La Ideas

Swedish design trio Front have created a giant, three-headed shower installation constructed from a maze of standard copper pipes (+ slideshow).

Sofia Lagerkvist, Charlotte von der Lancken and Anna Lindgren of Front created the WaterDream installation for bathroom brand Axor as part of a project to explore the future of the bathroom.

Rather than propose a high-tech solution, the designers decided to expose the copper pipework that is usually hidden from view. “We used our personal perception of the shower and showering to draw attention to the technology behind the wall, which is often concealed,” explains Charlotte von der Lancken.

“We played around with the most elementary components that are used to bring water to us – pipes, valves, couplings, and funnels,” added Front’s Sofia Lagerkvist.

Philippe Grohe, head of Axor and the grandson of the founder of parent company Hansgrohe, said: “Front show how something that is normally hidden from view can become a visually appealing and valued spatial construct.”

The installation was unveiled last week at Axor’s headquarters at Schiltach in the Black Forest, Germany, along with a second shower-light installation by Japanese designers Nendo.

Here’s the full press release from Hansgrohe:

Axor presents new “WaterDream” with Front and Nendo.
Re-thinking the shower – the search for a new archetype.

For 20 years now, Axor, the designer brand of Hansgrohe SE has been developing alternative visions for the bathroom as a living space. “In this regard, the focus is not primarily on the products, but on providing additional scope for creative development, for breaking down established behavior patterns, and for conducting an open, interdisciplinary dialogue,” says Philippe Grohe, Head of the Axor brand. Axor continuously engages in this dialogue with various internationally renowned design partners, which from now on also include the Swedish design trio Front, and the Japanese design studio Nendo. Following on the heels of Phoenix Design, Jean-Marie Massaud, Patricia Urquiola and the Bouroullec brothers, Front and Nendo now present their own personal Axor WaterDream. “Within our overall understanding of the use of space, the interaction with water, and the multifaceted individual needs of people, we focused specifically on the shower this time, interpreting it anew with Front and Nendo,” Philippe Grohe, the grandson of the company’s founder Hans Grohe, explains.

Living and showering: back to the origins

The invitation to re-think the shower produced two installations that couldn’t be more different from each other: whereas Nendo draws inspiration from an emotional living space outside of the bathroom, Front explores the technical origins of the water installation. Despite operating within different cultural contexts, the visions developed by the two design studios have one thing in common. Both present new archetypes in a charming and captivating manner: light and water pathways are re-interpreted in surprising and unconventional ways, and long-established functional and spatial separations between the living and bathroom spheres are challenged.

Front: a visual appreciation of water pathways

The Axor WaterDream created by Sofia Lagerkvist, Charlotte von der Lancken and Anna Lindgren allows us to experience the path water takes in its most original form. “Front show how something that is normally hidden from view can become a visually appealing and valued spatial construct,” says Philippe Grohe. “We used our personal perception of the shower and showering to draw attention to the technology behind the wall, which is often concealed,” explains Charlotte von der Lancken. “It was important for us to foster an awareness of what is the most archetypal aspect of the bathroom – the installation itself.” “For this reason, we played around with the most elementary components that are used to bring water to us – pipes, valves, couplings, and funnels,” adds Sofia Lagerkvist. With a simplicity that is characteristic of Scandinavian design, Front present their Axor WaterDream as an homage to artisanry and to the aesthetics inherent in technology and installation.

Axor, the designer brand of Hansgrohe SE, successfully realises “Designer Visions for Your Bathroom”. In cooperation with Axor, leading product designers, architects and interior designers develop their vision for the bathroom as a living space. The Axor collections offer a great number of unique and sustainable solutions to create personalised bathrooms of the highest aesthetic and technological levels. To date, Axor design partners include Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Antonio Citterio, Front, Jean-Marie Massaud, Nendo, Phoenix Design, Philippe Starck, and Patricia Urquiola. They all contribute towards making life in and around the bathroom a little more meaningful and beautiful. The Axor brand is headed by Philippe Grohe, grandson of the company’s founder Hans Grohe.

The post WaterDream by
Front for Axor appeared first on Dezeen.

The Water Lock is an automatic water meter and a locking device for use on bathtub taps. What you need to do is simply set the desired volume of water for the bath and let the bathtub fill up unmonitored. You generally know how much water you would like to fill in for your bath, so after the set amount has been filled, the flow automatically stops. So you end up avoiding overspill, wastages and have the freedom to do other stuff while you run up your bath water.

Water Lock simultaneously records and displays the water volume. When the water is flowing, it is ‘on’. When the flow is terminated, Water Lock is ‘off’. It uses the principle of a combination padlock for its operation and doesn’t require electricity.

Water Lock is a 2012 red dot award: design concept winner.

Designers: Prof. T.K Philip Hwang, Prof. Fan Cheng Kuei, Fu Shou Hsi, Wang Chih Wei, Hsu Wei Ling, Lai Yu Ren & Chen Yi An

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Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
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(Unmonitored Bathtub was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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2. Reverse Bathtub
3. Ballerina Bathtub

German studio Sieger Design present this flat, square tap for design brand Dornbracht at ISH 2011 in Frankfurt, which opens tomorrow.

Called Deque, the tap is designed to produce a wide horizontal row of individual streams of water.

The design comes in chrome and matte black.

German designer Mike Meiré created a sculpture to display the Deque range.

here are some more details from Dornbracht:

Dornbracht presents DEQUE

At the ISH trade fair in Frankfurt (15 – 19 March 2011), Dornbracht is presenting DEQUE, a new fitting for the bathroom. DEQUE ‘s visual language is characterised by the strong pared down aesthetic of its flat wide projection. The low and basin-hugging fitting draws one’s eyes to what is most important, the way that water is delivered.

“DEQUE represents the progression of the Dornbracht brand in avant-garde design,” says Managing Director Andreas Dornbracht. “The special feature we have developed for this fitting are the individual streams of water that are dispersed that provide a gentle and elegant experience while washing the hands.”

DEQUE ‘s contrasts stand out, the juxtaposition of the gentle flow of water with the severity of the fitting’s form and the contrast of the planar projection and the cylindrical control elements – a form that is particularly evident in the single-lever mixer.

“The natural cascade of water sets a deliberate contrast to the formal severity and perfection of the fitting,” says Michael Sieger.

With its planar form, DEQUE draws the eye to the fitting and the water it delivers, a perspective that evokes associations with the landscape architecture of Italian architect Carlos Scarpa (1906-1978). In combination with the two types of streams (the cascade of water and the gentle individual streams), this association marks the basis for designing DEQUE ‘s surroundings.

“The architecture unites the tremendous precision and geometry of the fitting with landscape architecture. The result is a sculpture comprising the fitting as a water-shaping source and the architecture as a water-structuring form,” explains Mike Meiré, who is responsible for the architecture of the DEQUE sculpture.

To follow the natural flow of water through this sculpture is to embark on a journey through the different applications of the series. Precise geometric forms depict a monolithic landscape of chrome and matte black. From washbasin to bath tub, from shower to deck-mounted, the different sources of water supply a flow that ties the different delivery forms of water together architecturally. It is not the architecture that unites the different water sources with one another, but rather the water itself that acts as the element uniting the architecture.

In addition to the DEQUE sculpture, four individual applications were designed for DEQUE. They each show a combination of outlets and a landscape element. The applications vary in size, yet exhibit a consistent architectural signature and material aesthetic.

DEQUE comes in the finishes chrome and matte black and will be available for delivery in September 2011. The design is by Sieger Design, the DEQUE bath architecture is by Mike Meiré.

New product: DEQUE
Design: Sieger Design
Available for delivery: Autumn 2011
First presentation: ISH 2011, Frankfurt

See also:

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