Although we’ve come a long way from outhouses and a bath-once-a-week-whether-you-need-it-or-not, the bathroom has not yet completed its transition from the early days of bare-bones indoor plumbing. Amazingly, there still lurks in our culture a Victorian attitude of downright shame about bodily functions, let alone any kind of self-indulgence. When I was a kid, bathrooms were a lot like efficient car washes: dump this, wipe that, brush those, scrub vigorously, towel dry, glance in the mirror, and hit the road. The room’s finishes and layout were equally unsexy, about as imaginative as a freeway exit motel.

Recently we’ve seen a lot of the other extreme—palatial gold-plated monstrosities. My prediction is that this craze will soon fade, thankfully, and we’ll be creating bath environments that respond to our bodily needs in more appropriate, balanced ways. The design criteria boil down to three distinct functions—to purify, to beautify, and to renew. A good bathroom performs them all.

Of course, not all bathroom fixtures contribute to all three goals. The toilet, for example, is solely about purification while the lavatory, shower, and tub not only purify but beautify and renew as well. Right off the bat this tells us that placing the toilet in a separate area is a good idea, as Asians have done for centuries.

The Japanese are masters of these distinctions. In their bathhouses one first takes a shower for purification and only then enters the tub for renewal of body and spirit. We’d do well to take a page from their book, stashing the toilet in a closet or semi-partitioned corner, placing the shower in an easily accessible area, and featuring the tub in the most desirable place of all—an alcove or a raised deck offering light, airiness, and intimacy. The “vanity” is well named, being the principal beautification area. Above all it needs to feature lighting and mirrors that make you look good and facilitate the tasks of shaving, styling, primping, and preening.

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