Trend Alert: Sunken Baths

Noted and admired of late: sunken baths. Below, seven alluring examples of bathtubs that skim the floor for a look that is at once modern and classic (think Roman baths). Some are deep cuts from our archives, others newly spotted.

Won’t you step right down?

Above: At a guesthouse in Algarve, Portugal, a combination shower-tub is clad in handmade matte white porcelain tiles. The brass shower fixtures are from Bruma; shown here is the Elite Brass Shower Head. Photograph by Alex Reyto for the Perfect Hideaway, courtesy of Casa Modesta, from Casa Modesta: A Family House Turned Rural Retreat in Portugal’s Algarve. Above: The step-down bath in the home of one of our favorite architects, Pat Bernatz. It’s lined in granite sourced from Coldspring. To get a better sense of how it’s used, head over to his Instagram for an enticing clip. Photograph by Yoshihiro Makino, courtesy of Bernatz Studio, from Before & After: Architect Pat Bernatz’s Reimagined House on the Hill in East LA. Above: Michaela Scherrer’s tiny spa bath made an appearance in our first book, 2016’s Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home, and we’re still thinking about it. You can read more about the space here. Photograph by Matthew Williams, styling by Alexa Hotz, for Remodelista. Above: From Hutch Design’s website: “The watchword for The Makers Barn is flow. Using clear sightlines and half-walls to offer glimpses between rooms, there’s a translucency to this single-storey space that makes it feel modest, low maintenance, and one with the landscape. A concrete shower is carved beneath a pocket of sky to simulate natural rainfall, and a brushed brass spout pours water into a sunken bath, which feels a little bit like the barn’s own hot spring.” Photograph by Helen Cathcart, styling by Sarah Birks. Above: For a remodel of a bungalow in Amangasett, NY, architecture firm General Assembly made clever design decisions to take advantage of every inch of its compact footprint, including adding a sunken bath once they discovered thee home had a crawl space. The bath is lined with tile from Heath. Photograph by William Jess Laird, courtesy of General Assembly. Above: Architects Bretaigne Walliser and Thom Dalmas are masters of sustainable design. Their former Williamsburg office includes a sunken tub featuring a vintage cast-iron clawfoot that came from one of their earliest building projects. The fixtures and tile were also leftovers from various other projects. This project and their country home both appear in our book, Remodelista: The Low-Impact Home. Photograph by Matthew Williams, from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Fabr Studio in East Williamsburg. Above: For Texas-born interior designer Alex Boudreau’s family retreat in Todo Santos, Mexico, she designed a spacious step-down bath lined with custom tiles from La Perla Mosaico Artesanal. Photograph by William Jess Laird, courtesy of Alex Boudreau Studio.

See also:

• 10 Easy Pieces: Drop In Bathtubs
• Remodeling 101: Everything You Need to Know About Wet Room-Style Bathrooms
• Hot Off the Press: 8 Design Trends for the Year Ahead