in Bath Culture
-after reading the article 'Dirt and Regeneration'
Time to Reconnect with Nature
Green design, also referred to as “ sustainable design”or “Eco design,” is a popular issue in Industrial design. When I think about this subject, one of the aims of green design is to relate people with natural environment. When people allow themselves to connect with nature, they feel good. By observing and researching the history of bath culture, I found that the amount of connectivity between human and nature have decreased. In the past, people could experience the beauty of nature during a bath by looking at the patterns of nature, being totally exposed to the nature. However, as the demand of hygiene has grown and the industrial civilization has developed, the bath culture came into indoor, and the amount of connectivity between human and nature have decreased. For example, the contemporary bath that has multimedia functions keep us staying in indoor, and take us away from outdoor activity: people these days lack most of the pleasant connections with the natural environment.
Roman public bath architecture
1C
A Roman public bath is full of natural air, water, and natural material. Built as public monuments, the bath used by everyone.
“Banya”, Russian bathing using natural fever
1700
Sweating and health are virtually synonymous in Russia. Russians pay special attention to the quality of steam: by continuously throwing water on stones and on stove, they create wet and moist steam.
Hand pump shower-Smithsonian Institution
1800
With the demand for hygiene growing in an industrial civilization, solutions were attempted before plumbing was available. The water is raised by hand pump artificially.
Mechanized prefabricated bathroom
20c
The bathroom is considered as a room with furniture. There is little connection between the bathroom and nature.
Multimedia functions in bath tub
21c
Designed by Keuco, email, SMS messages, internet, telephone, DVD, and CD are all available at the touch of a button during bath. This modern digital bath system takes away human from connectivity with natural environment.
