Stand 'The bathroom imagined’ Henraux S.p.a. – Bologna, Via D'Azeglio

The concept of 'The bathroom imagined', elaborated together with Philippe Daverio, plays on a site-specific project of a fountain / raised baptistery inside an eighteenth-century deconsecrated chapel, decorated by Chelini; a temporary project born by the sense of permanence of the place and the exceptionality of stone materials and of the processes Henraux S.p.a., active since 1821. The project was an opportunity to deal with complex geometries through a Rococo setting where impermanence and permanence, design and architecture, comparing no zero: a private and intimate room and at the same time collective place for meditation and reflection within the historic Palazzo dei Bastardini Bologna, returned to the public for the occasion. A raised platform in iron of about one meter, that maintains a relative distance from the existing walls of about ten centimeters, is accessible via a trapezoidal scale that space riproporziona height, designed for seating and inginocchiatoi, leading the viewer to see the Chelini sculptures from another perspective. At the center of the space a fountain / oval baptistry, with perimeter seat, It collects water and the sounds of three white solid marble ducts that run perpendicular to the elliptical floor, constituted by marble gray bands Versylius alternating statuary marble dell'Altissimo. The ducts are connected to three symmetrical marble tubs that fit into niches of the chapel, framing three vertical stems into existing decorative frames. At the center of the stems, consist of large marble statuary mirrors, They are provided gargoyles / waterfalls - produced by Fantini - and comfortable stone seats, suitable for a termarium. The bathroom / fountain features both Western (the central baptistery reworked in the innovative oval shape) and Eastern (ducts visible stone and gargoyles in recess) thus refers to a possible summary information on the contributions of our water culture. On the stems of polished white marble, via sbassi with electronic control blasting, you three 'odalisques' glimpsed in bas-relief – homage to Man Ray – reworked in a contemporary ideals Turkish baths by Ingres. A bathroom that is not a bathroom, a fountain that is not a fountain; the sound, refracted by soft lights and noble stones, in our bathroom imagined leads to a sensual atmosphere; between sacred and profane: luxury, calm and voluptuousness. technical partners: Fantini taps, Platek Light