THE SMALLEST ROOM AS THE BIGGEST MEANS OF COMMUNICATION*

Geberit Vertriebs AG – Showroom public conveniences at GIC, CH-Jona

The Geberit Group is a European market leader in sanitary technology. Bureau Hindermann was commissioned to design a new exhibition area for internal training purposes exploring the topic “public and semi-public conveniences”.

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The project was designed on the one hand to highlight the inadequacies and design flaws most common to places which tend to suffer from neglect and, on the other hand, to draw attention to the importance of atmosphere using simple methods, while at the same time breathing life into Geberit’s technical innovations. Passing through the 3-tier “educational exhibition area”, the visitor is shown the effect of light, materials and colour on mood and how the spatial area can change as a result. The white tiled blandness of the first section, the corridor area, is designed to illustrate the shape of things present. By using coloured lighting and perfumes, the mood of the second section, which is essentially the same, is influenced demonstrably, so that the visitor’s perception of the room is also changed.

In the third and final section, the visitor’s experiences thus far are applied to the actual toilet area. This area, in which high-quality materials are used, also puts into practice new and thought-provoking ideas such as shutters instead of cubicle doors as well as digital animations; a glimpse of the public convenience of tomorrow.