The revolution in ablution: Welcome to the bathroom of the future

PICTURE a situation where your bathroom cabinet will remind you to take your medicine, your mirror will inform you if you are not putting make-up on properly and you can check your Facebook page on the shower curtain while reclining in the tub.

Welcome to the bathroom of the future, where what is currently a normal daily routine for most people would become a highly interactive experience.

A new report published by a bathroom manufacturer has revealed a technologically-enabled room which will incorporate social networking and entertainment, as well as appliances which will look after the user’s physical well-being.

The futuristic bathroom will also include a toilet that can analyse your health as well as act as a gaming hub, and taps that can dispense products ranging from a sand-based body scrub to cleansing gel and moisturising cream.

The ideas are not a million miles away from reality. Most of the technologies used are either already in very early stage production, or are based on existing technology which could be adapted for the bathroom.

“The bathroom of the future will seem a paradox to the consumer of today,” said the report. “It will be a room that offers both solitude and sociability. Invisible technology will enable our bathrooms to adapt to us, becoming a space for reflection, connection or entertainment, as well as a space to pamper our bodies, manage our health or conserve energy and water.”

The report, by Ideal Standard, also analysed people’s bathroom habits, discovering that the average person in the UK spends 312 hours – the equivalent of 13 full days – in the bathroom every year. Women generally spend more time there than men, at 6.9 hours compared with 5.1 hours.

About one in five UK consumers already listens to music and reads books, newspapers and magazines in the bathroom.

About 41 per cent of people in the UK use the bathroom as a place to think, while a quarter find it beneficial as a place to relax. More than a fifth of adults and nearly half of teenage smartphone owners answer or use their handset in the bathroom or WC, according to figures from communications regulator Ofcom.

“If people are on Facebook while they’re watching films, while they’re eating dinner … and while they’re having a date, they’re tweeting all their mates, then they’re going to do it when they’re going through their personal hygiene rituals,” said Matthew Bagwell, global creative director of EMC Consulting and a contributor to the report.

The findings uncovered in your bathroom could be taken through into other areas of life.

“Your bathroom floor or your bath could tell you what your weight is … then automatically programme that into your watch,” added Mr Bagnell. “When I go running and I’m thinking of giving up, my watch will say ‘Remember what you saw in the bathroom this morning? Here’s a picture’.”

Furniture and fittings that are completely biodegradable or can be used forever will be part of the bathroom of the future. These include materials such as Ingeo – a plastic derived from plants – and ceramics made from sustainable raw materials.

Interactive games which could be played in the bathroom include a competition to see which household can use the least water or energy on the street – with details such as how many times the toilet has been flushed shown on a screen.

Games and even bathroom functions such as running a bath could be controlled using hand gestures, or even thought control. Some bathroom appliances could even react according to a person’s moods, based on technology already being researched at the University of Cambridge is also developing systems that can identify emotions from facial expressions, voice and body language.

“The issue is not whether the technology is available, but whether people find it to be appropriate in its application,” said bathroom designer Robin Levien, UK design director of Ideal Standard.