A seamless en suite room

Case study: Seamless en suite space

The clean lines of Corian bring refined bespoke luxury to a Cotswolds en suite.

By Rachel Ogden |

When an interiors professional creates an en suite room for a client who’s design-savvy, the results are guaranteed to be spectacular.

In this instance, the property was a new-build eco-home, made from ICF (insulated concrete formwork), nestled in the Cotswolds countryside.

Its designer, Kerr Drummond, owner of Hastings Drummond, says: ‘My client was an experienced property professional with extensive knowledge of modern materials. To that end, he wanted a luxurious, contemporary en suite for himself and his wife.’

Photo: Darren Chung

As the bathroom space was large – around 25 square metres – there was a long wish list of features, including a large bath, a double-basin area, a walk-in shower and plentiful storage for toiletries and towels.

Drummond’s client had a strong dislike of grout lines and exposed joins, so the first task was finding a sleek, modern material that was versatile enough to deal with these considerable design challenges.

And in order to disguise the plumbing that couldn’t be chased into the concrete formwork walls, the choice of material was clear – acrylic composite, Corian. Not only can it be thermoformed into all the shapes required, it would also create a hygienic, seamless finish, so there would be nowhere for dirt to gather.

‘I wanted to make a space that, while very functional and minimal, would also still be beautiful, but in a subtle way,’ says Drummond. ‘Corian was perfect for creating that wow factor. To achieve the look, the plywood stud walls were clad entirely in Corian and integrated to the bath and basin area, so that no pipework boxing is visible. All of the surfaces were clad in Corian, including the curved shower wall, shower floor, shower ceiling and canopy.’

Keen to prevent the space from feeling clinical, Drummond also created Mondrian-esque mirror panels on one wall with a Corian framework.

As well as making the room brighter, they break up the blocks of white and help to conceal the pipework. Thinner sections of 6mm Corian were used to create backlit panels, which add further ambience without dominating the overall aesthetic.

en suite room

Photo: Darren Chung

In keeping with the linear look, Drummond designed a large bath with an interlocking vanity unit as the main feature of the room. ‘The bath is huge, but it doesn’t look bulky because of the simplicity of the design and the smooth, matt-white finish of the material,’ he says.

It’s complemented by matt-black taps, echoing the fittings in the walk-in shower opposite, which was built into a dramatic section of curved wall – the Corian used was templated carefully and fitted on site. ‘It’s this attention to detail that produces such an immaculate and special result,’ says Drummond.

‘Corian was the key to this design. It enabled us to produce an impressive bathtub with a seamless surround and join-free double basin area. Both the client and I were delighted with the result.’

Case study Seamless en suite space 3

Photo: Darren Chung

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