London studio Doshi Levien have designed this domestic spa for Italian brand Glass Idromassaggio.
Ananda has a cabinet for steaming towels with a sink on top, a concrete bench and a shower with wall-mounted jets.
Here’s some more from the designers:
Ananda – Doshi Levien design for Glass Idromassaggio.
Doshi Levien designed a personal spa environment for Glass Idromassaggio that was launched at Cersaie on the 28th September 2010.
Ananda, meaning ultimate bliss, is a personal spa that explores the coming together of water, steam, light, materials and space in relation to the body. Elevating the senses to encourage physical and mental well-being forms the essence of Doshi Levien’s design approach. Ananda constitutes a series of elements that incorporate the most advanced hydro therapy technology combined with sensual materials. The spa is no longer a place for only occasional use as Doshi Levien extended the purpose of steam beyond simply filling a room. Doshi Levien see the spa forming part of ones daily rituals; a hot steamed towel every morning, aromatherapy and foot spa at the end of day, a place where you feel comfortable to take a facial treatment or pedicure. Ananda is an adaptable environment, allowing architects and the end user to configure their own spa and to choose the individual elements as needed.
Rain shower:
The rain shower is a new object typology that visually reconnects the bathing area with the living space. Doshi Levien created a porcelain shade that produces glowing droplets of water offering a full cover of light and rain.
Steam cabinet:
Inspired by the Hammams of Morocco, Doshi Levien observed how people sit low to the ground, either on a bucket or on the floor itself. They created a space in which people feel comfortable to sit low to the ground by offering a low and horizontal element, the steam cabinet. This contains hot steamed towels and on the glass surface there is a porcelain aroma dispenser and water vessel. Doshi Levien designed these elements with pleasure of use in mind so that each function has the potential to become a ritual.
Wall panel:
Doshi Levien’s objective for Ananda was to find a new material expression for hydro therapy technology. They found a new visual and functional expression defined by the relationship between body and space, as opposed to body and product. For example, they perceived the shower as an architectural plane or interior element. This cast slab of concrete contrasts with the advanced technology concealed within. Embedded water jets are set flush into the surface and water spouts slice into the concrete as if delivering a torrent of water from the wall itself. Doshi Levien were guided by notions of infinity and the sense of space beyond boundaries as a fundamental principle of well-being.
Benches:
The bench design was lead by the question “what material is most desirable to have in contact with the body in a hot spa?”. The use of concrete provides a smooth, hard but warm surface reminiscent of Cemberlitas in Istanbul or Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor in Switzerland. The use of concrete provides an unrefined sense of timelessness, longevity and solidity that is conducive to relaxation of body and mind.
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