Relaxation zone

Help

Solid, raw materials and sculpted shapes add a sensuous slant to this master bathroom

View of the master bathroom architecture, bathroom, floor, flooring, interior design, property, room, tile, gray, black, brown — View of the master bathroom

View of the master bathroom - View of architecture, bathroom, floor, flooring, interior design, property, room, tile, gray, black, brown

The vanity of the bathroom - The vanity bathroom, countertop, interior design, room, sink, tile, white

Overview of the shower - Overview of the architecture, bathroom, ceiling, daylighting, floor, glass, interior design, plumbing fixture, room, tile, wall, gray

Side view of the vanity & mirror - architecture, bathroom, countertop, floor, glass, interior design, sink, tile

L arge bathrooms often feel luxurious, if only by their abundance of space. While ornate cabinetry, fixtures and fittings are one way to enhance such an ambience, a palette of simple, raw materials and a functional layout can work just as well.

This bathroom, designed by Fu-Tung Cheng of Cheng Design, is a case in point. He says the room's generous proportions give it a spa-like feel befitting to its setting, on the fourth floor of a penthouse apartment.

"I wanted to create a bathroom that would appropriate this luxuriousness without resorting to things like embellished cabinetry. The space is designed to reflect the ritual of taking a bath. The tub sits on a platform of duckboard, which looks as if you could just lie down on it and have a massage," says Cheng.

Beneath the duckboard is a tiled floor with two separate drains. The changing direction of the wooden slats indicates where the boards can be lifted up to allow easy cleaning.

To make the tub extremely water tight, Cheng lined its interior with stainless steel, cladding the contours with sheets of cement board and finishing it with a layer of crackled glazed tiles.

The crackled tiles, wiped with India ink to accentuate the crazing, have also been used to partially line the walls. Teamed with a trowel-finished plaster wall in a bold green shade, the gray tiles, dark poured concrete and rich golden wood create a sensuous atmosphere, says Cheng.

Overview of the shower architecture, bathroom, ceiling, daylighting, floor, glass, interior design, plumbing fixture, room, tile, wall, gray — Overview of the shower

Other surfaces reinforce this theme. A two-coat raked plaster finish gives the ceiling the look and feel of soft corduroy fabric. Custom-cast Geoconcrete by Cheng Design was used to create the 11-ft long vanity. Fixed to the wall, the vanity has been hollowed out to form a twin washbasin.

"To make the vanity compelling enough, I chose to use one object rather than a cluster," says Cheng.