The United Nations projects that more than two-thirds of the world’s population will inhabit urban areas by 2050. City-living will have a key and lasting influence on the new luxury mindset that was once defined by materialism and excess. The new luxury will prioritise access and flexibility in a globalised world. As people become ever more connected, the ability to live a streamlined and nomadic lifestyle – one in which the individual moves seamlessly from city to city – is a new essential for the luxury consumer. Compact spaces that embrace minimal design and multi-functionalism are the new zeitgeist. Design is being refined to be sufficient rather than egregiously excessive.
Exploring the Future of Urban Living
What can architects and interior designers do not just to optimise these spaces but to enhance them? To infuse them with character, meaning and soul? To deliver on the very personal perception of what luxury is for each and everybody? These are the questions Axor is exploring with this project.
Especially in compact spaces, people are seeking ways to personalise and customise and are opting for sustainable appliances that can be individualised. Luxury is aligned with concern for the planet, and many high-end consumers now link personal satisfaction with low-impact products that boost collective and environmental well-being. By harnessing technological innovation and cutting-edge design, caterers to the Compact Luxury trend will give us the consumers new levels of customisation. Spaces will be recalibrated and reset, offering new environments of relaxation and recuperation. Moving away from the open-plan and transparent spaces that used to define luxury, Compact Luxury will embrace the private and the enclosed, creating areas that, while small, greatly enhance the individual’s sense of comfort and enjoyment.
AXOR is exploring these considerations in its approach to Compact Luxury. While the solutions are many, one thing is clear: the new urban luxury is not measured only in square metres. It is conveyed by archetypal designs that endure, expressing one’s individuality while fulfilling the desire to live consciously, holistically, harmoniously. It is reflected in the quality of one’s private time, the satisfaction in performing one’s personal rituals, and the sense of well-being that ensues.
Together with one of the leading international consulting firms on future trends, The Future Laboratory, AXOR has dedicated itself to the topic of ‘Compact Luxury’, exploring the megatrend of urbanisation.The aim is to bring architects and interior designers into exchange to gain new ideas, insights and inspiration. By 2050, two in three people will inhabit a megacity. Already, living spaces are shrinking as outside stresses grow, fuelling the demand for an ever-higher quality of life inside the home.
The Compact Luxury Report unpacks three major characteristics that drive the trend: Liberated Living: how a boundaryless mindset is emerging among consumers, driven by a desire for flexibility. Immaterial Affluence: how consumers are forgoing traditional markers of wealth, embracing increasingly immaterial forms of luxury instead. Conscious Wellbeing: how consumer concern around urban living is driving a desire for spaces that support individual and collective well-being.
Intuitive Elegance and Immersive Wellness
The AXOR range of showerheads brings a combination of wellness, elegance and luxury into life. Stepping into the shower is not just about washing the day away. It is an immersive, all-encompassing experience that takes you away from the world for a while, as you let the flow envelope you in a cocoon of comfort with breathing room when we need it most.
The shower range is available in chrome and up to 15 exclusive AXOR FinishPlus colours and surface finishes. With inimitable designs from Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio, Jean-Marie Massaud, Barber & Osgerby, Nendo, Phoenix Design and Front Design, the shower experiences are unrivalled in luxury and innovation. The selection of styles complements any aesthetic, and the AXOR shower range offers a choice of overhead showers, side showers, hand showers, modular shower systems, shower pipes, thermostatic mixers and state-of-the-art control units with Select technology.
ShowerHeaven brings purist design and precise engineering into the showering experience. With three spray modes, it’s the ultimate overhead encounter with water. Take a pick from a relaxing Rain spray, focused Mono spray or an immersive PowderRain sensation. PowderRain is a sensual spray that cocoons your body in thousands of micro-fine droplets, and we can even spoil ourselves and bask in all three spray modes at the same time.
Designed by Philippe Starck, the modular ShowerCollection is a singular, made-to-measure shower experience. Tailor-make an experience from a choice of options – from overhead to side showers, hand showers, thermostatic mixers, shelves and even loudspeakers. If doing it oneself, they’re extremely easy to install.
ShowerSelect by Phoenix Design offers effortless, intuitive operation, thanks to the thermostat module featuring patented Select technology. Select lets you pre-set your temperature and spray mode at the gentle touch of a button. Its thermostatic mixers complement a wide range of overhead showers.
