Some may think the shower's basic design can't be improved upon. There are at least two companies that disagree, marketing extreme conceptual showers that challenge the way we bathe. Would you try them out? See more about the Loop and the Horizontal after the jump.
I'm no stranger to eccentric bathrooms, but I've never seen anything like these. The Loop, by Italian company Idiha, is a ceramic enclosure with a main overhead shower and jets along the sides that take aim at the upper and lower body. Suitable for indoor or outdoor use, it looks like it would fit in at an ultra modern island resort.
The Horizontal is for those days when you fall asleep during your morning routine. Created by Dornbracht, this shower has you lounge on a slab of stone as overhead jets of varied temperature and pressure clean you with no effort needed on your part. There's even a video of it in action. Lazy? Erotic? Just plain silly? What do you think?
See more about the Horizontal and the Loop on Architizer.
(Images: Idiha & Dornbracht via Architizer)
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"The Horizontal is for those days when you fall asleep during your morning routine." heheheheee :)
LOL. Ok the horizontal one is CLEARLY for sex....I mean who would want to roll around in their own filth and soapiness? I feel like you would have to install a regular shower next to that one to rinse off afterwards.
I love all of these for different reasons. Also, love the hole-y wall in #1!!! Already thinking up project ideas using that one.
@Zepper, I think the horizontal one is based more on old hydrotherapy ideas. I was in a Japanese-style bath/ spa where they had pulsating waterfall heads like that, and you sat on a stone plinth under the stream.. It's a form of massage.
The Loop is a gorgeous design. I live in California, however, where water is always to be used carefully. So I look at all of these and think "waste".
Wasteful, and not that new. Do an image search for "needle bath" to see showers from a century ago with a similar concept.
What a colossal waste of water.
Polly S, mcbfly - How do you know it's wasteful? A lot of showers these days are designed with sustainability in mind.
I agree with MCBFLY and POLLY S. Even if these showers are sustainable in themselves, which I doubt, they encourage long and water wasting showers. Definitely not for me.
I have a friend that removed an arced multi head shower during their bathroom renovation. It was there when they bought the house, and they hated it with a passion. Apparently, because of city ordinances, there was just no way to get the pressure needed for it to be effective. They had to take longer showers and most of the water spraying from the sides wasn't even making it to their bodies, just going down the drain.
The loop looks like fun, but the horizontal looks more annoying than massage-like (think Chinese water torture). Between the water waste and space required for these alternative showers, however, I think both are a fail. Perhaps these would have gone over more in the decadent 80s, but consumers are a little more resource savvy these days.
Yes, I think these both fall into the category of "luxury hotel novelty" rather than something that would be put in a house.
The loop. I want. But I can't see incorporating it into my bath design. Need a new house. That's all there is to it.
On one hand I'm lusting over these. On the other, the environmentalist in me is cringing.
I can see where they could be set up with a water saving recirculation cycle to get the spa effect - no worse for "wallowing in your own whatever" than a bath but with a different feeling. A bit more energy wasted for reheating the water to keep it at a constant temperature and moving through the system though. Then you could have just one shower head deliver water for the actual cleaning part. You could probably have options that let you use one jet only for a quicker cleaning cycle, even time it. You could have a Navy shower cycle (on to get wet, off while soaping, on again for rinse). A people washing machine?