Press Release N°21
Milan, December 5, 2008

 

Design, innovation and new skills
to plan the evolution of “private spaces” in public venues:
in February, within the course of High Standard Training in Bathroom Design,
by POLI.design-Consortium of Politecnico di Milano

Design, innovation and an intense programme of lessons to study in depth the evolution of the bathroom environment in public venues: traditionally standardised facilities, usually void of any particular aesthetic identity, are today turning into well-groomed environments in terms of design, furniture and lighting, which contribute to characterise the project and identity of public premises.
The bathroom environment has today become a relevant field of specialisation for designers, and in order to interpret this evolution in terms of innovation and professional research, POLI.design – Consortium of Politecnico di Milano has established the post-graduate course of specialisation “Bathroom Design – Designing private spaces in public venues”, which is aimed at Italian and foreign architects and designers. The course, which is at its fourth edition, is centred on the design, planning and furniture of the bathroom environment in public venues, hotels and catering spaces, and is scheduled from 6th to 27th February, 2009.

Spaces in evolution between functionality, aesthetics and creativity
“The restroom of the future will be a space to be invented where the designer’s creativity assembles materials, state-of-the-art technologies and ergonomics to forms new spaces and products that combine shape and functionality - states Francesco Lucchese, architect and lecturer at the course –. These elements find expression in the project through the bathroom environment made spectacular, a strategic element that can turn the memory of the venue indelible. We are witnessing the coexistence inside the bathroom environment of heterogeneous materials and different shapes that have the right to coexists as they are dedicated to distinct areas with a peculiar identity, and the result is a set in which materials, shapes, and colours create unprecedented games between the elements. It is in these differences that possible scenarios for the restroom of the future may be found.”

“The research on contemporary design concerning the evolution of the bathroom environment expresses an increasing, topical creativity – continues Gianluca Sgalippa, architect and lecturer at the course – in the lines as well as the technical equipment, which is often very sophisticated also in terms of concept, and in the project of spaces dedicated to body care – where it often happens, in a hedonistic society, that the body itself becomes the topic of the project.”

Lessons, educational tours and a Project Work on a location by Giò Ponti
The course develops through 120 hours of research and lessons in class, practical exercises and tours guided by the lecturers to the most relevant realisations of innovative premises and spaces in Milan.
The topic of the final project work will be the virtual refurbishment of the bathroom environment in the historical Palace Montecatini, which was designed in 1951 by Giò Ponti in Largo Donegani in Milan. Today the building is the seat of Radio Monte Carlo, the partner radio of the new courses by POLI.design, and it will be imagined as a 4-star hotel with vanguard restrooms.

The course has the active support and commitment aimed at enhancing research and innovation, of the Academic Partner SIA Guest’09, the Rimini Fiera trade show dedicated to hospitality sector, which will host a multimedia exhibition of the final projects, and the Academic Sponsors Florim Ceramiche, Simas Aqua Space, ST Rubinetterie e Jacuzzi.

For more information: POLI.design, Michela Mantica, formazione@polidesign.net  tel. +39 02 23997248  www.borsedistudio.info