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A window in this bathroom opens onto a small, trellised garden,

ushering in sunlight and helping to create a sense of space

Here are few things more revitalizing than taking a shower under the sun or beneath the stars. But welcoming in nature –with- out compromising privacy- is challenge when designing a small bathroom that is overlooked by neighbouring houses.

In the bathroom featured here, architect Thomas Tow of Tow Francis Architecture+ Urban Design has made full use of the natural light that shines through the window. Behind the glass is a custom- built planter box enclosed in a wooden trellis. The trellis is placed upside down so that its stats are positioned upwards. This means anyone using the shower can view the sky but not be seen from the outside, says Tow.

“The trellis screens out the neighbours without compromising the natural light. When the window is open, it makes the bathroom appears much larger than it actually.”

To ensure this small bathroom didn’t seem claustrophobic or appear cluttered, a limited palette of natural materials has been used.

“The client wanted the look and atmosphere of a mountain spa. We chose stone tiling for the walls and floor, complemented by wooden framing around the mirrors,” Tow says.

The quartzite stone tiles were cut to a size of 300 x 300m. Although stone is a heavy material, the tiles have adds to the feeling of being in a tropical resort, says Tow.

By placing a mirror above the basin and mirrors along the wall opposite the window, the bathroom appears to double in size. Behind these mirrors are his and her cabinets. A shelf buit into the stone tiled wall below the cabinets houses the towels.

The basin is a single, sculptural piece that has been mounted onto the wall. The mirrored cabinets and the linen cupboard above the toilet eliminate the need for vanity cabinets below the basin.

“To keep the design simple, every fitting and piece of furniture has a purpose,” says Tow.

Separating the shower and toilet is a glass screen, stretching halfway across the shower area.

“No door has been installed because none was required- the glass screen is enough to contain the water inside the shower,” he says.

The sunken shower floor is reminiscent of Japanese design and adds a certain exotic appeal.

“Lowering the floor heightens the shower experience. The person using the shower feels utterly enclosed in the space,” says Tow.

Conceptually, this house employs two buildings that are perpendicular to one another and being separated by a continuing axis that connects main entrance door to the opening of inner garden. This axis becomems the main circulation of ground floor as well as the upper floor and indirectly connecting the front garden to the inner one, creating ventilation across the central part of the house. As such, it is also indicated by modular squares on upper part of the walls that let lights as well as air get through

The building is designed in modern style and dominated by geometrical mass and planes in the form of boxes and lines being integrated harmoniously with the natural colours of the materials employed. Each segmentof the building looks straightforward and neat without any artificial usages of materials.hence, the building is simple without unnecessary ornament except functional componentssuch as the window frames that are also utilized to feature akind of building’s fins. Details such as door handles, window panes, hand railing and fence are dominated by interplay of thin vertical line to compensate the background that is mostly dominated by massive planes and masses.

Interior object such as furniture and lamps are also worked out by mcp to be in line with the whole design philosophy, which is, employing boxes, rectangular and lines. From the façade it is clear that the architect has successfully utilized all the functions inside for outdoor expressions while from the outside, on the other hand,it is easy to guess where is the reception room, bedrooms, garage and vertical circulation even though space above the garage is misleading because it looks like a study room at a glance.