Why bigger is better: the bathroom sprawl trend
My upstairs neighbour just overhauled his flat. The most radical change, arguably, was opening up a wall in the bathroom so that it becomes the entry point to the new reading room. A bathing experience with a bit of literary lounging on the side is perhaps a creative solution to the tight layouts of London homes, but it’s far from an isolated example of bathrooms pushing their boundaries.
Just as a taste for smaller, more task-focused kitchens increases, bathrooms, it seems, are making a bid for freedom. No longer to be confined to windowless spaces the size of a cupboard, they are growing in size and comfort, and sharing space with other rooms of the house. We are calling it bathroom sprawl.
‘We’re looking to create the bathroom space in a more welcoming way, so it’s not just purely functional,’ says Kasia Kronberger of Berlin-based Studio Bosko. ‘Hospitality is an inspiration when it comes to that feeling of spaciousness and connectivity.’
Studio Bosko frequently works on renovations in tenement flats where bathrooms might not have originally existed, so when added they were typically very narrow. To right this wrong, Kronberger is knocking down walls. In the studio’s recent Charlottenburg project, the bath, loo, shower, wardrobes and bed all dance around each other, with partial screening, but still a sense of openness and free flow.
‘A motivation for connecting the bathroom in this way was really to create the feeling of a suite or bathing salon. We notice that it’s increasingly important for our clients to be in that space of utter comfort. Stronger connectivity and easier flow between bathroom and bedroom makes that feeling easier to achieve.’
Hospitality and travel are often cited as the inspiration behind the looser boundaries of bathrooms domestically, but it’s also clear that a greater understanding of wellness, and the benefits of taking your foot off the pedal, is at play.
‘It’s this idea of slow living,’ says Siobhan Kelly, associate director of David Collins Studio. ‘It has gained momentum in recent times and particularly post-pandemic. We are moving through life more mindfully, reclaiming time. As part of that we are creating bathrooms that are more homely, that reflect more of our personality and are less about being white, hygienic and clinical spaces. We are seeing the toilet being removed and going back to being in a physically separate room. It gives the opportunity for your bathroom to lean much more into becoming a sanctuary.’
Allocating another space for our more perfunctory hygiene habits is key to the sprawl. Removing the loo, as Kelly suggests, is often vital, even if that just means placing it within a cubicle or behind a half wall so it’s more hidden from view. It frees up the main bathing area to take on more character and alternative functions, as well as allowing it to migrate to new positions in the home.
In the renovation of period properties, the main bathroom is increasingly being assigned to alternative spaces – perhaps a spare bedroom or, as in Arent & Pyke’s most recent Sydney project, a former dining room. It means the structural features of principal rooms (generous large windows, fireplaces, even balconies and terraces) are being integrated into the bathroom setting. Pushing the ‘principal room’ idea further, we are seeing many bathrooms being more warmly furnished, fitted with tactile materials – think clay bath tubs in place of stone, rugs, upholstered items, curtains, artwork and ambient lighting.
In this new take on the bathroom there’s no place for floor-to-ceiling marble or the matchy-matchy suite, as a more personal composition of furniture makes it somewhere to linger. ‘You might want to have a beautiful antique martini table topped with a gorgeous candle that appeals to all the senses,’ suggests Kelly, who oversees the interior design of properties owned by high-net-worth clients.
‘You can really play with the topography of the lighting, from candlelight to wall sconces. Once you move the hygiene elements slightly aside you don’t actually need that glaring task light anymore.’
This is the first and the last place you spend time in the day, so we are opening up to the idea of the bathroom providing opportunities for conversation, daily rituals, catching up on reading or sharing a glass of wine. Kelly is building in reading nooks with voluminous armchairs and chaises longues – even tea-making areas with hot taps and a fridge have been known to be included in the sprawl.
Such houses might be a league apart, but it gives a sense of the boundless opportunity for blending bathing and life. Perhaps it’s just deep-rooted convention that gets in the way of seeing bathrooms in this newly integrated role.
London-based architect Emil Eve is certain that change is afoot in everyday homes, though, not just mansions. The practice likes to challenge beliefs, and one way it does so is in this idea that bathrooms can be social spaces. In Emil Eve partner Emma Perkins’ own home, she and her husband have built a family tub for four, with a bespoke terrazzo surround that can accommodate bums, plants, books or cups of tea. And at their award-winning Aden Grove project in London, the bathroom suite wraps itself round a prime spot in the house, with wide views across rooftops.
‘This is a room you use multiple times every day, so it needs to work hard and give those lovely moments – somewhere beautiful to sit while you run a bath, a carefully considered view from the shower, the perfect niche for a book,’ affirms Perkins. A place to read or meditate, spend time with the family or enjoy a nightcap, the primary bathroom is accommodating all of life and, as such, is assuming a more important role in the layout of our homes.
