Transformative Spaces — Andreas Outos

01 — THE BRIEF

Reimagining Tomorrow's Bathroom

Dornbracht — the premium design manufacturer of fittings and fixtures for baths, spas, and kitchens — challenged students to imagine the bathroom of the future. The question wasn't simply aesthetic: it was philosophical. How might we reimagine the bathroom as a transformative space — a sanctuary for physical and mental regeneration? The bathroom was reconceived not as a utilitarian room, but as a space that responds to our needs, moods, and routines. A space that adapts. A space where technology and nature coexist, and where personal experiences become immersive.

Team collaboration session — Copyright: Dornbracht, Fotograf: Joseph Strauch

Concept development — Copyright: Dornbracht, Fotograf: Joseph Strauch

Physical prototyping — Copyright: Dornbracht, Fotograf: Joseph Strauch

02 — THE VISION

Static Spaces Become Dynamic Experiences

The core insight: the bathroom doesn't need to be a static space. By merging digital technology, 3D-fabrication, and thoughtful design, we can create environments that respond to their inhabitants. Each concept — developed collaboratively by students from Design, Interactive Media, and Computer Science — explored a different approach to transformation: kinetic forms, responsive surfaces, perceptual disruption, and the integration of living elements.

03 — PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

The Process of Creation

This video documents the evolution and exhibition of Transformative Spaces — showing how the four concepts came to life, how they interact with their environment, and the collaborative vision behind bringing innovation into the bathroom space. A complete overview of what we envisioned and how it was realized.

04 — THE FOUR CONCEPTS

Diverse Visions for Transformative Space

Four distinct installations were developed, each addressing different dimensions of the bathroom as refuge and sanctuary.

Copyright: Dornbracht, Fotograf: Joseph Strauch

Shifting Sink

An interactive, kinetic sink composed of honeycomb-shaped 3D-printed components. The sink shifts and adapts based on mood parameters input by the user. Each component invites direct physical engagement — to touch, feel, and interact with a surface that isn't merely decorative but fundamentally responsive.

Kinetic Design · 3D-Fabrication · Interaction

Copyright: Dornbracht, Fotograf: Joseph Strauch

Living Tiles

Bathroom tiles are transformed. AI-generated abstract forms — calming and light-permeable — are materialized through 3D-printing. These tiles become projection surfaces for hand-crafted animations. The varying depths and topography create a dynamic interaction: motion graphics reveal themselves differently across the surface, responding to the physical topology beneath. A static bathroom fixture becomes a canvas for living animation.

AI-Sourced Forms · Projection Mapping · Motion Design

Fotografen: Dorian Spiegelhauer und Bastian Rögele

Distorted Echo

A mirror that disrupts expectation. Its spatially warped surface reflects not a faithful image, but an abstraction — a distorted echo of the viewer. Generative animations of the user's own reflection respond in real-time, creating a playful, disconcerting interaction that questions our relationship with mirrors and self-perception.

Generative Animation · Projection · Perceptual Design

Fotografen: Dorian Spiegelhauer und Bastian Rögele

Eco Arc

Nature returns to the bathroom. A wooden cubic framework — a standard bathroom module — is filled with moss, earth, and seeds. Time-lapse documentation reveals plants growing and establishing connections with their environment. It's a meditation on bringing life into human-designed spaces, on growth, and on the bathroom as a place of regeneration — both for ourselves and for living things.

Bio-Integration · Time-Lapse · Spatial Ecology

05 — MY ROLE

Animation & Digital Transformation

My focus was on bringing the physical installations to life digitally. Working primarily on the Living Tiles concept, I created hand-crafted motion graphics in After Effects — animations that respond to and enhance the 3D-printed topography beneath them. The challenge: translate the static, AI-generated form into dynamic motion that feels natural, responds to the physical depth, and creates an immersive audio-visual experience.

Animation on 3D-printed surface — Copyright: Dornbracht, Fotograf: Joseph Strauch

Close-up of projection mapping — Copyright: Dornbracht, Fotograf: Joseph Strauch

Projection mapping setup — Copyright: Dornbracht, Fotograf: Joseph Strauch

06 — LIVING WALL

Digital Meets Physical

The Living Wall is where the project's core philosophy manifests most clearly. An AI-generated landscape — abstract and calming — becomes the blueprint for a 3D-printed surface with varying depths and topography. This physical topology becomes a performance stage. Hand-crafted animations play across the surface, but they don't play uniformly. The depth variations cause the motion to reveal itself differently at each point on the wall — creating a site-specific visual performance where the geometry of the object and the animation choreography are inseparable.

AI-generated source material translated to 3D form

Hand-crafted animation responds to physical depth

Projection mapping creates immersive experience

07 — EXHIBITION & IMPACT

A Collective Vision

Transformative Spaces was exhibited during the Werkschau on February 2–3, 2024. What began as an academic exercise became a genuine dialog between design education and industry — between emerging talent and established expertise. The project demonstrates that the bathroom can be far more than functional space. Through technology thoughtfully applied, through collaboration across disciplines, through honoring both digital innovation and physical craft, we can create environments that respond to our humanity — our moods, our need for beauty, our connection to nature.

10 students across 3 faculties collaborating

4 distinct concepts exploring transformation

Industry partnership validating student innovation

TransformativeSpaces