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WaterDream vignettes

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Axor -- Interior Design, 8/22/2005 12:00:00 AM

Axor, part of Hansgrohe Worldwide, once again demonstrated the out-of-the-box thinking that keeps them miles ahead of the bathroom-design game with their exhibit "Axor WaterDream." Part of this year's FuoriSalone, which accompanies Milan's Salone Internazionale del Mobile, it examined the potential of the modern bathroom as a distinct architectural vision through a series of vignettes by Jean-Marie Massaud, Patricia Urquiola, and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. "It was about creating opportunity for free dialogue, as opposed to simply developing new products and simulating future environments," says brand manager Philippe Grohe. Massaud's all-white scene was made for lingering. Beneath a convex ceiling, he placed oversize pillows and a table around the synthetic-resin surround of an oval two-person tub; a slice of a fireplace provided additional heat to the romantic milieu. Urquiola presented a different sense of play. Amid an enchanted forest of showers, mechanical birds chirped in reaction to shifting light levels. The contribution by the Bouroullec brothers stood in sharp contrast to the other vignettes. Rather like a mathematical equation, they set against a chalkboard groupings of bathroom levers and handles within a series of frames, achieving a stark intimacy with the objects.