Designers are turning to one-of-a-kind tubs to energize the bathroom.
Is there anything that feels more appropriate than a long, dramatic, soak-until-your-toes-wrinkle bath? We think not. As it turns out, designers and their clients are already one step ahead of us. For the last few years, statement-making tubs have been cropping up in bathrooms across the globe.
Drake’s soaker in Toronto is honed from 4,000 pounds of black marble. Artist Daniel Arsham’s custom Snarkitecture bath is chiseled from a hunk of texturized stone. And television producer Ryan Murphy’s splashiest tub (he has several) is honed by the Haas Brothers from Pele de Tigre marble.
“Statement tubs,” according to designer Pam Shamshiri, the designer entrusted with placing that hulking Haas Brothers bath in Murphy’s L.A. place, “require space around them.” It can be a powerful move, she admits, and not one to take lightly. The tub must fit with the space and the client. “If a striking tub is part of the story, then we go for it, but if it doesn’t fit the narrative, don’t force it.” She floats a few options. “Hinoki tubs are my favorite,” she says of the famously high-maintenance traditional Japanese wooden baths. “They have such a luxurious finish, even if they’re like caring for another child.” She’s also working on a circular resin tub large enough to fit a whole family.
“Tubs, just like the rest of a house should reflect the owner and how they live,” explains architect Peter Pennoyer. Over the years, his studio has created a range of them: a freestanding cast-iron tub set in a window overlooking the ocean in Maine, a solid white one placed in the middle of the room in a historic Virginia home, a bath carved from a single block of Italian stone and placed in a window in Ohio, overlooking sculpture-filled gardens. “The best tubs seem to occupy the perfect place in the room,” he says. “They should make you notice the overall design—a vault overhead, a bay window, a fireplace.”
Interior designer Miles Redd, who employed a silver-dipped tub by Waterworks in a fun-loving Texas getaway, explains his thinking rather simply: “In a bathroom, you basically get a tub, a shower, and a vanity to play with. The tub can totally make the room.” Below, find 11 totally transcendental tubs from the Architectural Digest archive.
In this Amagansett, New York, home by architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, a hand-finished limestone tub by Boffi anchors the main bath, which overlooks the lower level’s grassy rooftop.
In this remote Aspen retreat designed by Shawn Henderson, a custom Japanese soaking tub with Dornbracht fittings serves as the centerpiece of the primary bath.
A vintage freestanding soaker charms in the main bath in this São Paulo family residence by Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld.
The scene-stealer of the bathroom in Drake’s Toronto manse, conceived by Ferris Rafauli, is a 4,000-pound tub of faceted black marble, carved from a single block.
In Ryan Murphy’s New York abode, designed by architect David Bucovy, the primary bath features a dramatic stone soaking tub.
In this spunky Texas getaway, devised by Miles Redd, a cast-iron tub by Waterworks gets a room of its own in the main bath.
Designer Ilse Crawford custom-designed a tub made of Calacatta Oro marble for the main bath of a client’s Stockholm residence.
At Daniel Arsham’s Norman Jaffe–designed retreat on Long Island, the artist’s touch is on nearly everything, including the tactile bathtub, which is custom-made by his firm, Snarkitecture.
