Although the toilet is the most private room in a house, it’s lacking if it doesn’t have a window. Ideally a toilet window has a view and offers solitude, which may seem impossible but that can be achieved through different means (size and location of windows, coverings, orientation of this window and wall, articulation of exterior elements). This ideabook presents some baths with big windows which look upon enclosed courtyards or pocket gardens. These little exterior spaces, such as the internal courtyards I’ve championed before, create connections between outside and inside which are controlled enough to maintain ample solitude.
Renzo J Nakata Architects
This is the toilet that sparked me to find different examples and compose this ideabook. There’s a cohesion to the interior and outside spaces which is undeniable: the method by which in which the window fits above the bathtub and how the concrete-block-lined courtyard is all about precisely the same size as the bathtub. There’s solitude in the concrete wall, but somebody soaking in the bathtub still sees green above it and facing it.
Notice the track from the ceiling for a curtain in the shower, a way of preserving privacy in that alcove.
A pocket garden adjoining to the toilet also permits direct access, as this semiroofed space illustrates. The wood lining the walls shows how significant these surfaces are. Some folks might like the grey concrete of the prior case, for how plants pop from it, but others might prefer the colour and texture of wood.
Dirk Denison Architects
1 project with a profusion of little courtyards, a few of them serving baths, is that this dwelling in Marin County, California, designed by Chicago’s Dirk Denison Architects. The single-story, barrier-free plan has about 10 outdoor spaces of varying dimensions. Here we are taking a look at the master bathroom and its own pocket garden, which isn’t an inner courtyard, thus the wood fencing. (A shower and toilet on the other side of this mirror are also a part of the master bath.)
Although this house is a new construction, a toilet with a large view can be a part of a renovation. With the right fencing and plant (bamboo in this case), a wall can be opened and a private oasis generated just outdoors.
Dirk Denison Architects
An inner courtyard elsewhere in the house serves another toilet.
Dirk Denison Architects
Along with an enclosed, glass-walled shower in a different part of the house gives the feeling of showering outdoors but with the extreme privacy.
DeForest Architects
With bodily connections between baths and outside spaces via doors, like this glass slider, it is logical to continue architectural features between the spaces. The wood slats in this case are a really nice touch, tying the spaces together and providing an armature for shelves for soap and other things.
Eduarda Correa Arquitetura & Interiores
Based upon the climate, the connection between inside and outside can be even blurrier, such like this particular shower and bathtub sharing an outside space in Brazil. A courtyard such as this could also be enclosed in the elements (a glass or plastic roof above the structure) to allow it to be usable in different climates.
Cornerstone Architects
As mentioned already, a pocket garden can function a toilet as part of a renovation. 1 natural material choice is bamboo, a grass that grows like crazy and screens quite nicely.
Neumann Mendro Andrulaitis Architects LLP
This bathroom is comparable to previous ones with the outside space from the shower, but in addition, it features a skylight, another way of making a view (of the sky) and bringing in light.
Swatt | Miers Architects
Sometimes a skylight might be the only means to open up a toilet. In these cases location and size are significant. This one sits beneath the shower, projecting light down the wall and enabling glances upward when one soaks in the bathtub.
Architects Magnus
But if shaping an outdoor space or inner courtyard isn’t feasible, there is the option of using special surfaces to maintain privacy and give the look of character. This bathroom has resin glazing using a bud pattern for the exterior; around the other hand is planted bamboo, therefore real nature and its own picture coincide.
Dorman Architects
Last is a bathroom in Ireland where the window perfectly serves the adjoining tub. In this case solitude results from careful framing and sizing of the window.
Dorman Architects
And this is the opinion from this window, a beautiful scene to soak in while soaking.
Share your key view: Do you have a mini garden opinion off your tub? We’d love to see a photo.
