At the end of the workday on a recent, rainy Friday afternoon, there was a reception in the sleek, Coke-bottle-green skyscraper with the curved facade at 333 W. Wacker Drive.
It was held on the ground floor in the Chicago Athenaeum, the not-for-profit Center for Architecture, Art and Urban Studies, which was exhibiting the work of Eliel Saarinen, the noted Finnish architect (and father of noted American architect Eero Saarinen).
In some ways, it was your typical cocktail party. Well-dressed, slightly anxious people stood around in clusters, sipping wine from long-stemmed goblets and nibbling fancy tidbits such as eggplant stuffed with goat cheese and radicchio.
And as usually happens at such affairs when the crowd increases and the alcohol kicks in, the volume of the chatter gradually rose from low drone to high din.
What set this occasion apart was what had brought everybody together.
It wasn`t Eliel Saarinen. It was bathrooms.
Not just any bathrooms. Italian bathrooms. To be precise, three model bathrooms created by three Italian designers and architects.
The gathering was sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission, which used the model bathrooms to promote the products displayed by a consortium of 30 Italian manufacturers at the ninth annual Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, which opened the next day at McCormick Place.
It`s possible that most Americans wouldn`t cross the street to view a British, Swiss, French, German, Scandinavian or maybe even an American bathroom.
But judging by the turnout of the 100 people who packed themselves into the Athenaeum on this soggy Friday evening, Italian bathrooms are something else.
Or at least Italian design is.
Italy`s designers, artists and architects have given the country an unsurpassed international reputation for imagination, innovation and craftsmanship in the design of almost everything, from furniture to clothing to everyday objects like coffee pots and pencil sharpeners. Even the many different kinds of Italian pastas look terrific on a plate.
So it was natural to wonder what three of their visionaries would do with one of the most important spaces in any home-the one place where you can close the door and be alone, the Library, the Throne Room, call it what you will.
The three Italian designers called their creations:
– The Mediterranean (by Ugo La Pietra). ”The concept of this room stems from an old desire to have a house set along the sea” and ”open to sun and air,” said the exhibition catalog. It featured two custom-designed couches, one suggesting waves and the other the sun. The furniture was made of light wood; the sunken tub, the tiles and the cushions were in ocean hues-deep blue and turquoise. A small table was set with a ceramic tea set and flanked by two chairs.
– The Technological or Artificial Bathroom (by Denis Santachiara). The room was stark, the color a uniform blue-gray. It`s ”an anonymous space.”
The central object is a large mirror. There are only four other pieces-almost identical cylinders of burnished metal that resemble thick posts about 3 feet in height with a diameter of about 12 inches. One is a seat, one is a drying platform for towels, one provides a small space for toiletries and one houses a TV screen in its top that shows makeup designs for the woman of the home.
– The Classical (by Luca Scacchetti). The bathtub-”almost monumental”-
is the focal point, resting on a raised platform and evocative of the thermal baths of ancient Rome. Everything is marble in carefully coordinated shades of amber. ”The accessories, reduced to a minimum, are almost nonexistent.”
Where`s the, uh . . . ?
As it happened, the three bathrooms were at McCormick Place. All anyone saw at the Athenaeum were a few color slides.
Architect Mario Cananzi, an assistant to La Pietra, discussed aspects of the three bathrooms as the slides were flashed onto the white wall behind the speaker`s podium.
His remarks, delivered in Italian, were translated into English, but because of an imperfect sound system and a continuing hubbub from the crowd in the back of the room, the words were largely lost.
This required a closer examination of the ”Italian Bathroom” catalog. One thing was obvious. While the three bathrooms were decidedly different from one another, as you might have expected, they were also quite similar with regard to their approach to the toilet and the bidet.
It was impossible to learn by reading the catalog whether the three designers consider these fixtures esthetically displeasing or are squeamish about the bodily functions for which they are made.
Whatever their reasons, La Pietra hides the two apparatuses behind partitions in his airy Mediterranean model, Scacchetti puts them behind twin lavatory cabinets in his luxurious Classical bathroom, and Santachiara takes the most extreme approach in his spartan prototype. He includes neither a toilet nor a bidet.
Cananzi was asked what a person with a Santachiara bathroom should do when nature calls. Ask the neighbors to use their facilities? ”That is one solution,” he replied, smiling. ”But you must not take Santachiara literally. He is exploring concepts. He is making a statement about minimalism.”
The subject of bathrooms can make people uncomfortable. Even a brief discussion can cause some faces to flush with embarrassment and incline others to make immature jokes and egregious puns to cover their discomfort.
The Italian designers were serious and philosophical in appraising the possibilities of the bathroom in the 21st Century; even though they were occasionally whimsical, they refused to sink, so to speak, to bathroom humor in their musings.
The catalog, prepared by La Pietra, identifies four ”trends in the transformation of the bathroom.” They are:
– A Place for Decompression. This views the bathroom as ”not only the place for hygiene” but also a haven ”that allows the individual to separate, isolate and otherwise close himself off from others.” Such ”isolation is almost always accompanied by the individual`s need for reflection,
concentration and possibly contemplation” as well as for escape.
”The true protagonist of the environment is the bathtub. . . . The toilet and the bidet have quite solemn form, at times even concealed, linked to the concept of being and sitting down.”
To illustrate this section, La Pietra sketches the figure of a nude man seated on the toilet, holding his head in his hands and looking down at a TV screen set in the tile floor.
– The Gym. Many people now ”relate hygiene to health and physical beauty” gained ”through `active practices.` ” It`s inevitable that exercise equipment requiring ”a very limited space” will result in the Bathroom-Gym
”capable of glorifying physical beauty.” Put bars on the walls for exercise and for hanging workout togs. ”The sink, toilet, bidet will also become `equipment-objects.` ” La Pietra`s sketch with this section shows a man lifting weights as he lies on a bench in an overflowing bathtub.
– The Beauty Parlor. ”A highly artificialized place” with high-tech equipment (mini-saunas, solariums, whirlpools, thermo-saunas, vibrators to lose weight) that includes a dressing table equipped with TV screens and videotapes of individualized makeup programs, plus large mirrors and
”containers for materials, clothes, small tools, chemical and natural products. . . .”
– The Living Room. ”A daring project” in which ”one finds, out of context,” objects from the living room and bedroom, some traditional and some extremely modern.
Hallowed everyday objects
Michael Lustig, a Chicago architect and recipient of the 1988 Young Architect Award from the American Institute of Architects, took the podium after Cananzi, offering three reasons for Italian leadership in design and fashion.
”First, the Italians have a long heritage of appreciating nice things,” he said. ”They love cars, material objects, clothes, food; everyday things are unbelievably important to them.
”Second, they have a longstanding tradition of craftsmanship. They give craftsmen and factory workers the same economic and professional status as we give architects. It`s admirable to be a furniture maker or a glassblower in Italy. Americans don`t give such craftsmen that high status. Consequently, their architects and designers have the advantage of working with experienced people who can provide input on design and develop the technology necessary to produce what the designer wants.
”Third, and I think most important, after losing World War II Italy, like Germany and Japan, needed a way to re-enter the international arena as equals with the victorious nations. Japan chose electronics; Germany chose cars, especially the Volkswagen at first, if you recall. Italy did it through design.”
