These futuristic bathroom concepts will make you feel jealous

By Garrett Hulfish March 19, 2017

As soon as a bathroom has been remodeled, there are always new design innovations around the corner. Technology is making our showers cooler, our bathtubs smarter, and our faucets distinct. One of the biggest bathroom retailers in the United Kingdom, QS Supplies, is always looking ahead to innovate and improvise on bathroom products.

For a luxurious shower underneath a waterfall, QS Supplies’ arch shower makes a statement. The beautifully arched form is made of smooth Corian and contains high-pressure water jets that spray from all angles. With all the jets going off at once, the shower is meant to offer that feeling of an actual waterfall rushing down with generous abandon. Based on the current design, this concept would cost approximately £18,500 (about $23,000).

This next concept offers a much more traditional shower experience with a twist. The real innovation here comes from the shower’s enclosure. Inspired by the Northern lights, the glass panels illuminate with a warm glow. Lights are placed below the glass within the aluminum frame for the enhanced effect.

Water shortages are a real concern in many parts of the world. With this in mind, QS Supplies has come up with a high-tech solution. As a modern interpretation of an overhead shower, it contains a digital display for both the water temperature and the amount used. By showing people how much water is being used during a shower, the idea is that they would adjust their routine to diminish the water used. Additionally, faucet heads for the bathtub and sink have also been conceptualized.

Sometimes a bathroom needs a change in overall ambiance, not tech. Designers came up with the zen rock washbasin to create a calming, meditative feeling. Traditional Japanese stones make up the basin itself in a balanced form while other organic materials like wood are used for consistency.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Garrett Hulfish

Contributor

Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…

News

Clever ‘nerve hacking’ prosthetic tricks your brain to make limbs feel lighter

Neuro leg experiment

As technology advances, it also typically shrinks in size. The first video cameras were enormous, bulky devices that felt like you were carrying around a shot put on your shoulder. Today, you can get superior recording quality on a smartphone that’s thinner than a deck of cards, and weighs about as much -- or as little.

In some cases, however, there’s a limit to how much you can shrink a piece of technology and still have it be useful. A prosthetic leg for an amputee might be slimmed down to a certain degree, but it still needs to stay at a certain size in order to function as a prosthetic leg. Likewise, reducing the weight of the prosthesis can be achieved by using more lightweight materials, although weight reductions are ultimately limited by the size constraints.

News

Personal power generator harvests energy from the breeze you make when you walk

Walking

Wind power is an exciting and efficient method for generating sustainable energy. But while most of us aren’t going to be getting personal wind turbines anytime soon, a small device developed by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing promises to turn wind power into a personal energy generating solution -- by harvesting energy from the breeze created when you go for a brisk walk. Yes, seriously.

Rather than being a wind turbine, the device is a nanogenerator composed of twin plastic strips in a tube that moves when exposed to airflow. Through a process called the triboelectric effect, the two plastic strips brush against each other and generate an electric current. This is similar to the way that static makes your hair stand on end when you rub a balloon on your head. This current is then sent via silver electrodes to a miniature generator. While the wind-to-energy conversion efficiency is lower than an average wind turbine, it is higher than previous devices trying to do similar wind scavenging.

News

Tokyo’s transparent public bathroom has a neat trick up its sleeve

tokyos newest public bathroom features transparent walls tokyo toilet project 1

The idea of using a public bathroom with transparent exterior walls would likely cause most people’s sphincters to twitch in horror.

So it may surprise you to learn that such a facility was recently installed in a park in Tokyo, Japan. In reality, using the bathroom isn’t really as daunting as it may at first seem, as the see-through walls automatically turn opaque when you go inside and lock the door. Just don't forget to lock the door.