Financial Times

 

The bain of one’s life “We always face the dilemma of how much space we take from the room to make into a bath-room,” says architect Nadi Jahangiri. “It becomes an exercise in moving the partition back and forth.” This got so tedious that he decided, in a recent loft development, to do away with the wall altogether. He sank the oversized bath into a raised platform made of African hardwood with storage space underneath (the loo and hand basin are discreetly hidden behind a frosted cube). The crowning touch of modern bathroom design is the tap – a critical fashion accessory which everyone from Philippe Starck to Arne Jacobsen has had a go at. It’s the design version of the Fendi clutch bag (a pair of Dornbracht’s trendy Tara taps costs about the same). “It used to be door handles,” says Jahangiri. “Then it was tables and chairs. Now it’s the tap. You have to design one. It’s the law!” So much for private sanctuaries: bathrooms have become places to see and be seen, and if dispensing with modesty is the price we pay, then so be it.