Vitæ

The world has changed. From a rapid digital evolution point of view as well as a consequence of a general desire of wellness that conditions our days. For a long time, health and wellness have been essential elements for a fulfilling life, to be as simple as possible, pleasant and healthy, achieving an optimal level both from physical and mental perspective. A conscious lifestyle aimed to health and the optimization of the physical and mental vitality have gained importance for a sense of fulfilled life.

This evolution actively contributes in changing the traditional idea of health and wellness, making daily life increasingly simple and increasingly characterized by individual needs and expectations. The individual needs of people therefore determine the specific characteristics of their action space. With all his rituals and actions, the human being is the focus and the so-called ritual architecture becomes the precondition of design.

This project faces the theme of bathroom and water in terms of design and technology, meaning the bathroom a place for relax, time off, ritual, where the cleansing of body and mind is also accompanied by clean shapes. A path of introspection precedes the creation of design. Only at the end of this internal path the space and the new shapes will correspond to uses and needs. This allows to the technical perfection to reach a spiritual quality. Functionality joins the ritual.

The design theme in this case is characterized by the presence of an ideal customer: the biodynamic winegrower.

“The biodynamic winegrower cultivates his vineyards following the principles of holistic philosophy hence biodynamics. He follows the lunar cycles, he nourishes his terrains exclusively with natural fertilizers using “natural enemies” to control pests. He respects nature to get grapes, from which produce excellent wines, according to the principles of biodynamic winemaking. He is a person who lives in harmony with mother earth, meticulously known by him. How does his bathroom look like, as a place dedicated to the body care?”

The one who deals with biodynamic is therefore a farmer spiritually approaching agriculture, by participating in enhancing the world through a regeneration of universal spiritual dimension, in harmony with the natural cycles. This is a concept of the world yet to experience and unravel, that comes from Goethe’s vision of nature to develop in the spiritual-scientific method initiated by Rudolf Steiner.

Rudolf Steiner in 1924 laid the foundation for a conception, we would say today “holistic”, of the farm. A farm in connection with the environment, the whole Earth, and finally with the cosmos. So we are talking of organic agriculture meaning the attention to all those systems of living relationships that we identify in our observation, not only material.

Recognizing these realities, operating not just as a result of thoughts of cause and effect, but observing in Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s way, is to experience a different thought, fickle and artistic. Biodynamic agriculture is therefore not a methodology but a method, a path which, through sophisticated methods and techniques, suitable for the individual cases, leads the farmer to be the creator of a farm organism full of life and a diffuser of healthy products and vitality. The anthroposophic fundamentals of biodynamic agriculture help to keep alive the evolution of knowledge, techniques and growth of each farmer as man, citizen and responsible to the life of this planet.

In this philosophical and spiritual context. “The design has to stand in front of the man as a sensible image of himself and of his many experiences. It can offer its important contribution to the solution of problems if it is able to have quality in itself in terms of space, shapes, colours and materials, contributing to the growth of the independent and responsible person and to the growth of the encounters between human beings, to identify itself with the balance between the vivifying force of nature and conscious force of human culture, supporting the vital processes in humans and at the same time expressing the tension of scientific and technical research of modern society” (S. Andi).

The “Arabescato Orobico” is a beautiful Italian marble extracted from the mine “Cornalita” in Camerata Cornello, Brembana valley (Bergamo, Italy). The grey base colour with pink and gold veins gives to the “Arabescato Orobico” particular colour properties that, along with unique technical characteristics,  designates to it an important position in the world of ornamental italian stones. The “Arabescato Orobico” is characterized by intense ramifications, with shades more intense than the background, which recall the features stratifications of Earth’s crust. In this sense, the marble reminds of the soil, its dynamic characters, the lying, the morphology, the climate, which are among other main natural elements that directly contribute to the qualitative expression of a wine.

This mental trip, aesthetic and figurative, leads us by associations to a landscape image. That landscape constructed from secular act of winegrower and which we have today. The man, in this case the winegrower, with his commitment and dedication, is the main actor of the landscape, to which he gave form and harmony, the result of the interaction between the natural elements and his actions. The “Arabescato Orobico” in this project is meant to represent all of these things: the extraordinary universe of vineyards and ancient knowledge that has given rise in the history to territories and variety of landscapes with an expressive range so wide and rich in nuances.

The references to the world of viticulture and particularly to the barrels and vats, introduce in the bathroom the use of wood, as oak staves, according to traditional construction. Thus the tub and the sink are constituted by a base / wood coating and a basin in white marble (Bianco Thassos), where the shapes neatness is also achieved thanks to the use of an innovative and smart pop-up waste with integrated automatic overflow. This design, synthesis of project gesture between memory and contemporaneity, research the origin of things.

The shower tray is with no limits and extends ideally for the entire bathroom. The basin and the waste are concealed by the floating marble slabs, retaining the continuity of the floor in both the washing zone that in the drying zone.

Design that wants to transcend time and trends, characterized by the purity and simplicity of shapes. A project at the same time with a great materic character, drawn through precise and clean lines, where marble and wood match together according to clear reference principles and reinterpretation of archetypal forms. In moderation, without emphasis, with that sense of opportunity and measurement in exhibiting the elements of composition, obtaining thanks to the contrast a more effective highlighting.

Design

Massimiliano Gamba

2015

Client

EERA Srl