by Anna Fletcher
Hammocks aren’t just used for outdoor relaxing and camping trips anymore! Designers are using the shape, suspension, and weightless comfort of the hammock as inspiration for their new inventions. Check out a few recent strokes of ingenuity in the inventor’s world…
Hammock Inspired Bathtubs
SPAce Hanging Bathtub-Shower. Ewa Garniec , a Polish industrial designer known for clever inventions like a bendable, shape-shifting cube lamp and a physical therapy bed that folds up into a wheelchair, has struck imaginative gold with her suspended bathtub-shower. The SPAce is a hanging shower with sides that can be folded up into a bathtub. Constructed out of a silicone membrane circle, it has three arms that can be rolled up into the ceiling, raising it for shower use and lowering it for bathtub use. No matter which way you choose to use the SPAce hanging bathtub-shower, you will get the same great suspended feeling that you get with a hammock.
hometone.com
Hammock-Shaped Bathtub. The inventive designers of Splinter Works , a sculptural furniture company based in the UK, have created Vessel , a hammock bathtub made of carbon fiber. This “ultimate vehicle for total escapism” combines the peacefulness of hammocking with the comfort of a hot bath. The carbon fiber used is durable yet able to be shaped into intricate curves and woven “fabric” that simulates the cloth of a hammock. Vessel has a foam core underneath the carbon fiber that serves to insulate the tub, keeping it hot for longer. It is suspended from the walls, completely off of the floor, and fixtured to the walls with stainless steel brackets. Because it is meant to be used in a wet room, the tub has a waste water release at its bottom that flushes dirty water into a floor drain. However, if a wet room is unavailable, a downpipe drain can be installed.
splinterworks.co.uk/
Hammock Inspired House
Flederhaus. This public hammock house located in Vienna, Austria was designed by Heribert Wolfmayr and Josef Saller, two Viennese architects known as Heri & Salli . The Flederhaus (“Bat House”) is an open, four-story-plus-attic wooden house aimed at giving city-dwellers a place to relax in public. Located near the Museumsquartier , this urban installation is free and publicly-accessible, provides a wonderful view of surrounding architecture and gardens, and holds a total of 30 hammocks, all arranged to encourage patron contact and communication. With a completely open front and back, the Flederhaus gives new meaning to public space, as it allows visitors to meet and socialize in an inside yet open space.
heriundsalli.com , Photos by Mischa Erben
heriundsalli.com , Photo by Mischa Erben
heriundsalli.com , Photo by Mischa Erben
