ever thought about not only cleaning the outside of your body but also regaining inner calmness at the same time?

the new body+soul by artweger is a new type of steam shower. not a hardly affordable wellness temple, but instead a steam shower for the rest of us. thanks to its modularity it is easily adaptable to the given budget.

GP accepted the challenge to provide a design for everyone.

we started from scratch by discussing the mood we were aiming for as a basic principle. a steam shower could be designed in the sense of »servicing the body« or »feeding the mind«. we went for the second one, »feeding the mind«, with a clear and tidy visual language — a soft appearance with rounded edges.

when it comes to wellness, there are endless numbers of ideas. usually the outcome of such brainstorming is huge, luxury temples; almost priceless products, affordable only by the well-heeled. we searched for a different approach.

to make the product affordable for a wider audience, we strove together with our client for a modular structure. it should be possible to have at basic steam shower, just using the steam function, and different possibilities to upgrade the product with an audio system, a light shower, a rain shower, etc. consequently, customers can order body+soul versions perfectly suited to their purses.

in the concept stage we played with different types of modules, one of which used boxes. these boxes should have a similar appearance for visual calmness. we checked out how they could be combined and simultaneously provide for comfortable usage of the steam shower. for that reason a mock-up was built out of corrugated cardboard and polystyrene and tested by our team members. the idea that emerged at that point was to create a good-looking basic model that could be upgraded to a full-blown, fancy steam-shower booth.

the mock-up also helped us to define the dimensions of the fixtures/components so that, on the one hand, two people can use the steam shower jointly and, on the other hand, body+soul can be installed on standard shower receptors.

the haptic experience was carefully considered too so that it is in sync with the visual appearance. areas that will have skin contact were supposed to be soft. to obtain a high-class feeling, we decided to frame all the modules with a metal band. we thus reached one main milestone — the first prototypes were made by artweger and presented to selected plumbers, the customers of our client. this was the start of the in-depth-discussion.

the modular system was accepted enthusiastically. our first approach, to show the possibility to combine modules for the desired version of a steam shower, was mainly welcomed, but some plumbers felt that the top-version looks somewhat crowded. moreover, the question was whether we could provide the right price tag with that concept.

eventually we moved the light into the ceiling together with the audio system. that led to the next improvement to boost the feeling of comfort, a remote control for light and audio.

in order to allow the combination of different modules and ensure the same appearance, the remote control is designed for two-sided use. one side to control the music, the other one to control the light conditions. if the customer/user orders just the audio module, one side of the remote control will not be used.

as it is state of the art, the user can put essential oils or herbs into the steam generator, but we improved the loading mechanism together with the engineers at artweger. for the first time, it is possible to change/fill this compartment even when the steam generator is already in use [i.e. if the user has forgotten to fill it with something good].

presented and launched at the ish 2009, body+soul received a warm welcome from the market and is now a cornerstone of artweger's design image.