“A project goes through different stages,” explains Susanne Brandherm confidently. Together with Sabine Krumrey she runs the b-k-i studio, specialists in interior design and with offices in Hamburg and Cologne. The “ReAct” project was designed as a trade-fair booth for Axor and has now come to a temporary close, as the predefined outlays and the tight schedule for the development and realization did not suffice to cover the presentation originally intended. However, there is potential for realizing the project in a different context. In March last year, “ReAct” emerged as the victor in the three-stage competition held by Stylepark and Axor, the “Axor Inspiration Project”. A jury of five selected “ReAct” from the total of 40 projects submitted by teams of architects, designers and interior designers. The call was for designs on the topic of “water in space”, with the focus being on the key questions: “What does water do to a space and what does a space do to water?”
The jury was very taken by the idea of realizing a combination of different water scenarios controlled by sensor in the midst of a trade-fair booth – for the project is designed as a multisensory experience with a playful character. The water is meant to rush, flow and gush through tubes fitted on the ceiling of different lengths and diameters, some being reflective, others with a matt metallic surface. Concealed Axor shower heads and “Rainshower” elements are intended to enable alternating baths of different temperatures, ranging from hot to cold. The idea was to control the interactive water world either by preprogrammed elements, for example an external control panel such as “Axor One”, created by designer duo Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby or (and this was the original plan) using sensors that trigger the torrent as soon as a person stands beneath the corresponding tubes. Moreover, it would also be conceivable to specify certain zones on the floor or the design of the tubes as a code for the degree of heat and type of torrent. Not least a correspondingly large area could be designated encouraging shared shower experiences.
The project is intended to show how to link the topics of health, relaxation, emotion and digitalization in the bathroom in a surprising and creative way. “It was clear to us that if we showed it then the experience dimension had to be clear,” comments Susanne Brandherm. What was possibly overly ambitious for the presentation in the trade-fair context could prove to definitely have a future: “ReAct” can be imagined as an installation in a discerning private bathroom just as much as it can in a spacious spa in a luxury hotel.
