alexheathreed.com
Future bathroom
Content coming soon
The Future Bathroom project explored how design can support dignity, safety, and independence in personal hygiene, especially for older adults and people with disabilities. This long-term research initiative led to a focus on reimagining the domestic bathroom as a space that adapts to users’ changing needs across the life course. Bathrooms are often the most hazardous space in the home for older adults, with risks of falls, injury and for many a place where they lose privacy.
Eliciting insight One mode of insight generation used during the Future bathrooms project used public exhibition as a format for asking questions about use and acceptance of the different types of personal hygiene designs people encounter. Visitors were guided through a life size maze of options and objects and participant feedback was captured by means of graffiti.
The project aimed to specify and design bathroom environments and commercially viable products that are safe, dignified, and desirable, beyond as functional aids, but as spaces that support wellbeing and autonomy. User-centred design methods included recruiting older people who were trained as community researchers and conducted home visits to observe and interview peers about their bathroom routines. The project addressed age, gender, and cultural dimensions of washing and grooming, topics often considered taboo or overlooked. The project aligned with UK government initiatives like the Retro-fit Home Scheme and the Chief Medical Officer’s Report on Health in an Ageing Society. The team included design researchers Paul Chamberlain, Heath Reed, Maria Burton, Andy Stanton and worked with partners Ideal Standard, Vitra, and Istanbul Technical University.
Research led to a series of speculative designs and prototypes that were produced as probes to illicit further insight. A flexible bathroom lab was created at Sheffield Hallam University, allowing mock-ups and movable furniture to simulate real-life scenarios. Inclusively designed these were created to be acceptable to all users while meeting the specific needs of older adults and those with disabilities. The collaboration with Vitra won Most Innovative Design from the UK Over 50s Housing Association in 2017, influenced government policy through citation in Parliamentary reports and the NIHR’s Help at Home themed review. Showcased at events like Retro-fit Meets Wellbeing at The Building Centre, London in 2023 and a key output included the publication 'Inclusive design as we age' produced in collaboration with Vitra.
External links