Depth that remains, Switzerland

In a private residential project in St. Gallen, the shower room became an architectural element. Clad with raw lava slabs from Volvic, treated with colour intensifier and impregnation.

A room made of lava

A room that doesn't push itself into the foreground and therefore makes an impact. In this bathroom, all surfaces are clad in raw lava stone slabs. Dark, porous, full of character. The treatment gives the stone depth without losing its openness. The shower remains functional, but becomes something else. A silent envelope of natural stone.

The stone as the starting point for everything else

The surface appears rough and soft at the same time. Open-pored, slightly iridescent in the light, perceptible in its materiality. The slabs are generously proportioned, the transitions deliberately organised. Every joint is perfect. The stone shows itself without dominating. It becomes a surface, a form, a stage for the light. Architecture is not created around it, but with it.

Reduction creates a sense of space and closeness

The bench, wall and niche form one continuous surface. Everything is made of the same material, without breaks or divisions. The light feels its way across the surfaces, moves over edges, seeps into shadows. The result is a space that creates closeness, that withdraws without hiding. Clear, calm, physically close.

A place that takes a step back

The technology remains visible, but restrained. Nothing is decorative. Everything is precisely placed. The lava stone determines the atmosphere, not the design. This creates a feeling of reduction and protection. Of calm and presence. And of permanence.

A project realised by: Ruf Design AG (Representative Pyrolave - Switzerland)

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