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In the past a house with one full bath and a powder room was considered luxurious. Today, many homeowners consider anything less than two bathrooms primitive. For this reason, most renovations on older houses involve the upgrading of existing bathrooms and the addition of new ones. The modern bathroom isn't only functional, containing tub, toilet, and lavatory; it's also designed to accommodate relaxation. A lavishly equipped bath may include two or more lavatories, exercise equipment, a bidet, a whirlpool (large enough for two or more), a steam bath, and , sometimes, even a sauna. The bathroom has evolved from outdoor privy to indoor health spa. The cost of today’s bathroom has increased proportionately with its amenities. Although bathrooms were never inexpensive, the construction and finishing of a new or renovated bath room today is very expensive. To begin with, the fixtures and fittings range from high-priced to extremely high-priced. Their installation involves plumbing work which is either expensive (if you subcontract) or time-consuming (if you do it yourself). Next come the finishing materials. You can choose a simple tile or an outrageous marble, but neither can be considered cheap materials; Masonry installation is also costly and time-consuming. It will be in your best interest to give careful thought to the planning and design of your bathrooms. You will live with the finished product for quite some time. BATHROOM REQUIREMENTS At the very least, a complete bathroom needs a toilet, a sink, and a shower or tub. A bathroom also requires plenty of storage space. Cosmetics, medicines, toiletries, hair dryers, curlers, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc., need to be kept neatly and readily at hand. Hampers for dirty clothes and storage for clean towels are often included in bathrooms. In addition, you must not forget wall space for accessories such as towel racks, toilet-paper dispenser, tumblers, robe hooks, and toothbrush and soap holders. Having provided for these basic requirements, you must allow for circulation space to get to and from the various fixtures. You should be able to dry your self or brush your teeth without banging your elbows on the walls. The schematic shows some of the most common bathroom layouts and minimum clearances. Bathrooms also need temperature control. People who live in cold climates are very familiar with cold and drafty bathrooms. There are many older homes and apartments with lovely big stained-glass bathroom windows. These windows are wonderful on sunny, warm days but can be rather chilling in cold weather. Allow plenty of room for radiators (preferably under the window) Many municipalities have adopted codes requiring that some new bathrooms be accessible to the disabled. The requirements for renovated bathrooms depend on the extent of reconfiguration and the type of dwelling you are renovating. Check your codes carefully. The lavatory area of this expanded bathroom was carved out of an adjacent hallway. The portion that now contains the toilet, bidet, and bathtub was the original 5-by- 7-foot bathroom space. For particularly problematic spaces, a heat lamp on a timer could provide the extra heat needed at bath time. Most homes today have a master bath, a children’s or second bath, and a powder room. Master bathrooms are the largest, the most complete (in terms of fixtures), and generally the most luxurious. Usually they are equipped with two lavatories, a toilet, a separate shower and tub, and quite often a bidet. All these functions may be accommodated in one or more spaces. In particularly luxurious arrangements, the master bath may be divided into a bathing area and a toilet and sink area. There are master baths with saunas and sun bathing courtyards as part of the overall suite. (For renovators, a well-placed skylight may be the only access to “sun space.”) Dressing rooms with or without lavatories are often designed as part of the master bath. img_ COMMON BATHROOM LAYOUTS The master bathroom has also become the repository of lots of storage. The old-fashioned medicine cabinet over the lavatory has given way to exotic storage systems. It seems that every member of the family has his own hair dryer, curler, shaver, toiletries, linens, cosmetics, tissues, soaps, etc., resulting in cabinetry requirements that at times defy reason. Lavatory cabinets with lots of drawers and full-length medicine cabinets become essential to store all these personal possessions. Built-in makeup counters with adequate lighting and storage for cosmetics have also become part of the master-bathroom realm. In renovating this master bathroom to incorporate an oversized tub, the design goal was to maintain the character of a turn-of-the-century room. The wooden tub surround, the white marble floor and wainscoting, and the traditional cabinetry and detail are all instrumental in achieving this end. The second bathroom in the house usually ser vices the children and an occasional guest. Al though a conventional three-fixture bathroom is all you actually need, the use of two sinks is becoming more popular. (Of course, this assumes you have the additional space necessary.) Because this bathroom will be used by several different people, it's a good idea to include separate storage for each person. E.g., the vanity can be designed with two separate compartments. You can also include two medicine cabinets and even two hampers to avoid overlapping use (otherwise known as kids fighting over who left what where). Powder rooms or half baths are generally located near the public areas of the house (meaning living, dining, and kitchen areas). They are used by both family members and guests. Powder rooms can be as minimal as a toilet and a lavatory or can include as much storage as other bath rooms in the house. Because they are used by guests, powder rooms are often the place where the fanciest fixtures and finishes are used. Occasionally half baths are combined with laundry facilities (particularly in apartments). The washer and dryer are designed into an alcove with bifold doors to hide them. This bathroom takes advantage of the Southwestern climate by opening up on a small private courtyard. Half baths are also a good solution for those with tight spaces. A toilet and a sink could pro vide a nice amenity in spaces which don’t have enough room for a full bath (even at its most minimal standards). Take, for example, a bathless master bedroom. The provision of a half bath will contribute to the overall comfort of the suite. In addition, it will take the pressure off the other bathrooms. OVERALL PLANNING It makes good planning sense to approach bath room design by estimating the number of bath rooms that you need versus the bathrooms that you presently have. If you have lived in your house or apartment for any length of time, you are probably well aware of the inadequacies of your bathroom facilities. If you have a family with growing children, keep in mind that their bathroom usage will change as they get older. It seems to us that a child’s bathroom time increases in geometric proportion to his or her age. On the other hand, you may have just bought your home and may be looking for suggestions. Following are a few questions you can ask: How many people does each bathroom service Do you have enough bathrooms or will they be over-utilized? If over-utilized, you need to concentrate on adding one or two more or redesigning your existing bathroom layouts for more efficient use. Is it worth while to add a new one by expanding into another area or stealing space from an oversized room or closet? If space is at a premium, can you get away with an additional half bath? Do you underutilize a bathroom because it's in the wrong location? Is there any way you can make that bathroom more appealing to encourage its use? Can you make the tub bigger, switch to a better shower faucet, add a sink or a radiator? Perhaps you have enough bathrooms but they are all too small. You would love to enlarge one of them and make it more comfortable. Is there a hallway or area nearby you can incorporate into the bathroom space? If you are completely locked into the present space, can the layout be made more efficient? Are you limited to upgrading what is already there? If your house or apartment has enough bathrooms for your family’s needs, you can afford to customize each bathroom to the family members who will use it. The design process is more complex for those who have less bathroom space than necessary with little or no room for expansion. These bathrooms have to be designed for maxi mum use and flexibility. A compartmentalized layout may well be the solution when bathroom space is at a premium. This approach separates the bathroom functions into three distinct areas: a sink area, a shower-tub area, and a toilet area. Each of these areas is interconnected by doors which can remain open or closed to allow for privacy as needed. Compartmentation can solve a variety of problems. An overused large bathroom can be laid out more efficiently. It can be redesigned as two separate small bathrooms or it can have two separate toilet-sink areas and a common shower-tub area. If space is limited, the design could be modified into two sink areas sharing a bathing and toilet area. This solution is ideal for families with several children. Hair drying and showering could happen simultaneously, thus minimizing fights over who will be using the bathroom. The biggest disadvantage to compartmentation is that the lay out generally takes more space per fixture than a conventional bathroom layout. Another solution to over-utilized bathrooms is to provide sinks as part of the bedroom dressing area or even directly outside the bathroom. Interestingly enough, many older homes with only one bathroom have combination lavatory-dressing areas. While at first glance they may seem a waste of space, these sinks are very useful for grooming purposes. Shaving, brushing teeth, and washing can all take place without tying up the bathing and toilet facilities. PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS As renovators you are most likely confined to locating your new bathroom in the space of the old one. There are a number of physical constraints that limit you in your design flexibility. You have to work with the existing room envelope (ceilings, walls, partitions, doors, windows) and plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. It may be possible to expand a bath by extending to the outside or by usurping interior space from an adjacent room. If you are renovating a house, you may be able to expand to the outside and create a whole new room extension. The size of the bathroom is entirely up to you and the zoning laws. (You will have to check minimum side and rear setbacks.) Those who can’t expand to the outside of the house or apartment will have to start by looking around for expansion possibilities in adjacent rooms. Can you steal space from a room, hall, or closet? Determine whether the walls or partitions you are thinking of eliminating are structural (see Section 16). Find out whether there are any plumbing, heating, or electrical lines hidden in those walls. Electrical and heating lines are relatively easy to move. Plumbing lines aren't . A rule of thumb is that behind every plumbing fixture there is a plumbing line. If there is a bathroom directly above the one you are looking at, the problem is compounded. These same plumbing lines are servicing both bathrooms. We advise you not to move the plumbing fixtures around unless it's essential. Apartment building dwellers are advised that, while minor fixture re location is possible, moving the entire plumbing stack around is close to impossible. One-story homes with a basement or crawl space directly beneath allow for the greatest flexibility. The basement below provides an area where drainage pipes can pitch freely, while vents can easily be rerouted through the one-story height. There are times, however, when it's absolutely imperative to relocate one or more of the fixtures. Keep in mind the following order of difficulty. The easiest fixture to relocate is the sink. The reason for this is that the drainage for the sink need not be particularly close to the main waste stack. The tub and shower are second in order of difficulty. The most difficult is the toilet because it needs to be directly connected to the waste stack (see Section 18). OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Natural Light and Ventilation Adequate light and ventilation are important to good bathroom design. Ideally every bathroom should have a window. Not only do windows provide much needed light and ventilation but they also add to the visual amenity of the room. Occasionally, people object to bathroom win dows because of the need for privacy—the argument being that blinds, shades, or drapery have to be installed and frequently replaced because of moisture problems. One solution is to locate the windows high up on the wall. When the window location can't be changed, another solution is to replace clear glass with frosted glass. Skylights are also a popular choice. If you have an interior bathroom, an operable skylight could give you light and air. Most building codes require the pro vision of ventilating fans for interior bathrooms. The “Look” of the Bathroom As architects, we are often asked what the latest bathroom “look” is. The answer is: whatever you like. Bathrooms can be rather attractively designed with sleekly tiled floor and wall surfaces, ample mirrors, and soaking tubs sitting in plat forms. They can also be more intimately designed with a minimal amount of mirror space, antique furniture pieces serving as the cabinetry, and a bathtub with legs. While these examples illustrate two design extremes, there are many options that lie somewhere in between. At the risk of repeating ourselves, we believe that the best “look” for your bathroom is the one that makes you feel comfortable.Next: Design Elements |
