“The idea is to have a completely free wall. Normally, you have the water pipes in the wall. But here, we built the washbasin and bathtub into middle of the room, so the pipes are coming from the floor. And then we have the all-glass wall—it’s completely transparent, with nothing to obstruct the view.”Antonio Citterio
For the first of his two AXOR bathroom concepts, Antonio Citterio imagined a Scandinavian beach house - a vacation home designed for a young and active family, unconstrained by budget. Natural light is scarce and precious in this pristine Northern setting and must be enjoyed at every opportunity.
Antonio Citterio has oriented the spacious bathroom to the east and, instead of an external wall, has given the entire length of the bathroom over to a single sheet of glass. “It’s a dream space,” says Citterio. “You imagine the young parents, the kids. There’s music. And you’re in the middle of nature—you don‘t have anything but the rocks and the sea in front of you. And you have this light in the morning—it’s from the east, this low sun. It‘s the best start of the day. But also at night, with candlelight, you have this special ambience. So it’s really a dream, conceived for wellness and relaxation. You can rest in the hanging lounge chair and just look at the views.”
Designed for a northern clime, the bathroom features bright materials such as travertine, light cement and pale birch wood to underline what Citterio calls “the theme of welcoming natural light.” While birch is common to northern Europe, the travertine - a porous, cream-colored limestone - is more commonly associated with Citterio’s native Italy. “The travertine is really warm,” Citterio says, “and you know, we wanted to put some warm Italian touches here in the cold. Travertine is not really precise, and I like this. You have memory in the stone.”
One of the distinctive features of Citterio’s concept is a freestanding travertine structure combining washbasin table and bathtub. “The idea is to have a completely free wall. Normally, you have the water pipes in the wall. But here, we built the washbasin and bathtub into middle of the room, so the pipes are coming from the floor. And then we have the all-glass wall—it’s completely transparent, with nothing to obstruct the view.”
The AXOR Citterio C fixtures selected for this dream bathroom include two faucets at the washbasins, a faucet and hand shower at the bathtub, and, in the shower area, a thermostatic mixer, a hand shower and an overhead shower. For the finish, Citterio chose Brushed Black Chrome, one of the exclusive AXOR FinishPlus surfaces. The Brushed Black Chrome stands out again the creamy travertine, emphasizing the slender, sensuous form of the faucet from every angle.
