Spanish ceramics firm Porcelanosa and Noken has teamed up with UK architect RSHP and Spanish architect Luis Vidal to create MOOD, a bold new range of sanitaryware. RSHP created the sinks, toilet and bidet range in traditional ceramic mixed with new generation material Krion, while Vidal co-ordinated the high tech, ergonomic brassware. Punters used to Richard Rogers’ pared back industrial aesthetic in bathroom designs from the Pompidou to Barajas airport will be surprised by the more mannerist look of the MOOD range. But as Rogers explained at the launch, he views it as a completely different challenge, with a far more intimate relationship to the end user. ‘We learned very quickly from the toilets at the Pompidou that public will steal anything,’ he said. ‘There they were taken to pieces very quickly, and we had to redesign them – it’s amazing what people can remove.’ He called MOOD less ‘surgical’ and more ‘humanist’.
RSHP thinks the sanitaryware could move into the corporate environment. Partner Ivan Harbour admitted: ‘I know that this is bolder than commercial property agents might be happy with, but we see it being easily adapted for office environments, and hopefully public buildings – that would be wonderful.’