The definition of a family home may be fairly standard when taken at face value but of course the needs of any given family never remain the same for long. After a couple of years of living in their home the owners realised another bathroom was necessary. Luckily, when the house was designed the spaces were configured to change as and when need dictated.

“When the house was planned we allowed for many of the spaces to be integrated within a number of configurations,” says architect Murali Bhaskar. “This then gave us a high level of flexibility when it came time to incorporate this new bathroom.”

The area where the bathroom now is was an outdoor space that housed a spa pool. Having an area dedicated to open-air ‘bathing’ dictated the design of the space and was the catalyst for the full-width sliding doors that allow the space to be opened to the elements.

“In a number of ways this bathroom is a departure from what went before,” says Bhaskar. “The other family bathroom is more about functionality in that the toilet, shower and vanity can all be accessed independently, whereas in this space everything is contained within the one room, making it a much more experiential space.”

In keeping with the experience, Bhaskar employed a pared back material and colour palette that focused on form over function. Custom, open-faced storage sits in front of frosted glass, which serves to separate the main area from the toilet and shower. At night diffused light glows from behind the glass.

Similarly, a plane of LED lighting is contained behind a ceiling treatment of decking-style timber. Again, this serves to soften the light entering the room and maintains the clean-lined, linear aesthetic that has been established through the architecture.