Future Sustainable Bathrooms
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Transition Design Consulting Projects
Tags: Water, Industries, futures thinking, business transformations
Client: Vitra
Summary
How should private and public bathrooms transform to enable sustainable living and environmental and social impact in the future?
How can companies’ sustainability projects be connected to an inspiring, holistic and strategic shared vision?
We partnered with VitrA – a Turkish manufacturer of sanitaryware, bathroom furniture, brassware and ceramic tiles - to collaboratively reimagine what VitrA’s sustainable future bathroom might look, feel, sound and perform like. Together with a diverse representation of VitrA’s team, we created a multi-level cohesive and holistic vision to guide and inspire VitrA’s future approach to sustainability innovation.
“What I love about this project is, that we have been working on different bits and pieces on sustainability but now we have a Holistic concept , where everything can connect - all different teams now know their role in connecting to the future vision”
Sustainable bathroom visualisation.
For illustrative purposes only, this image does not represent the recommendations made to VitrA.
Process
Over four dynamic and interactive online sessions, we guided VitrA’s team through the past, present and future of sustainability in the bathroom industry
First we pooled existing knowledge of established trends, barriers and VitrA’s stakeholder ecosystem to understand the current system. We then deep dived into weak signals around emerging bathroom trends, changes in water use legislation and other critical bathroom-related issues like health, material circularity, user experience, water processing and resilience.
A presentation of key sustainable living trends then inspired the VitrA teams to reimagine sustainability more holistically, incorporating new dimensions such as gender equality, slow living, biodiversity stewardship and nature-inspired solutions.
Finally, the team journeyed to the future to build on five key emergent concepts from these discussions. By roleplaying stakeholder hopes, fears and priorities for the future, and considering different “What If…?” questions, the team developed holistic, visionary stories for VitrA’s future sustainable bathroom approach.
“As for VitrA, a Turkish originated global brand, we had better take care of our roots and re-born upon on it to be a fit for the future in our way. No other brand in our sector has this strong root; hammam culture, taharet. Let’s make a big change for the better good, and make people follow our way”
We drew on various tools and approaches through the sessions including:
Sustainability transformations lecture:
Demonstrating the need for radical transformations and the roles of different actors in supporting themStakeholder Mapping:
Understanding different ecosystem actors, their interest and power in fostering future sustainable bathroomsSystems Mapping:
Understanding behaviours, assumptions and barriers around sustainability within the bathroom environment“What If" Brainstorming:
Critically exploring the future through different speculative scenarios, developed by Falay team based on consolidated discussions and findingsStakeholder roleplay:
Developing a systemic approach by embodying the hopes, fears, priorities and possible actions of different stakeholders, including future generations and non-humans
Image (Right): Infographic demonstrating the different sustainability components for a future bathroom vision
“Working with a multidisciplinary group is helpful for understanding different perspectives”
Impact
This project brought together different corners of VitrA’s company to move from a fractured understanding of both sustainability and a future vision, to redefine what sustainability can mean for the company.
Consolidating the discussions and ideation from the different sessions, and working with Ceschin and Gaziulusoy’s Multi-Level Innovation Framework (2020), Falay team developed a recommendation to guide VitrA’s future sustainable bathroom vision and strategy.
Beyond the final recommendation, this process also supported the team to:
Move from siloed understandings of a future sustainable bathroom to an aligned cross-company vision
Shift a market-need based perspective to an intersectional people+planet view of sustainability
Introduce sustainability as a competitive advantage and strategic focus
Build internal capacity for sustainability transitions with training, tools and approaches
Image (Left): The Multi Level Innovation Framework, Ceschin & Gaziulusoy 2020
Results from the satisfaction survey completed by VitrA team participants.
“As humankind, we resist on changing our habits and daily routines. But the world is so sustainable without us. We need a more holistic approach, otherwise, there is a thin line between a sustainability and green washing.”
Workshop participant
This project was made possible by Neol.
Interested in uniting your organization behind a sustainable vision or learning more about our approach?
Contact person
Zeynep Falay von Flittner
zeynep@falayconsulting.com
