This is the sole exhibition showroom space in Athens of the pioneering bathroom designers ‘Ideal Standard’.

The Ideal Standard profiling slogan of 2006: “Body and mind”, inspired the design to manipulate the display space in two respective ways: space as an active foreground process, and space as a more relaxed background allowing customers to select and combine products. The design concept, therefore, evolves around the two-fold use of an exhibition space as a foreground and background at the same time. Thus from the elevation/section point of view, the proposed stand elements operate as a background to the exhibited products. Whereas in terms of the plan view, as the visitor’s location changes in relation to space and time; the proposed radial organization of the showroom plan engages the viewer to interact bodily with space, acting this time as a foreground, organizing and allowing specific pre-designed perspective views to unfold.
The space has an overall sense of simplicity, through the use of clear forms and materials. The space is divided into two main parts corresponding to two different heights, exhibition display methods, lighting, and construction materials.

On the one side the full available 6m height of the existing space was employed, to create a prominent space. This created the potential for designing display methods that would manipulate the entire height of the space. It led to the use of coiled, metallic curtains that span the entire height of the space and act as a backdrop for the bathroom utilities stands (1). Despite the size of this architectural feature, the curtains do not overpower the object on display; instead because of their transparency and twirled movement, they direct one along the swirled stands and from one stand to the next. The colours used in this tall space are mainly greys, silvers and blacks from the colours of the painted stands, floor tiling and metallic curtains.
In the other part of the space a lowered ceiling was designed to create a more intimate space. This low height allowed for more small scale displaying techniques to be used. In this space baths and showers are displayed by stands and walls designed to echo the shape of the objects, resulting in zigzags. The chrome taps are hung on transparent glass panels set against ‘lumigraph’ (holographic plastic), illuminated by RGB lighting from behind. This combination of aqua coloured lighting and wavy patterned plastic creates a watery effect, and the overall effect is as though the taps are floating over water. There is also a themed stand space by the entrance, where four sets of utilities are exhibited with assigned themes. Each set was allocated space by dividing a circle into four segments and the theme was shown through the use of printed imagery. This low space is predominantly green as a result of the walls and ceiling that were painted green and green gravel and resin composite flooring, which also adds a natural element to the space.

Project Title:
Ideal Standard Bathroom Exhibition Showroom, Athens, Greece

ANAMORPHOSIS Architects:
Nikos Georgiadis, Panagiota Mamalaki, Kostas Kakoyiannis, Vaios Zitonoulis

Design Team:
Julia Desli, Pascal Wever, Eleni Kyriacou, Phaedra Crespi, Dimitris Ghikas

Construction: March 2006 - July 2006