‘Phyto purification bathroom’, image courtesy of Jun Yasumoto.
have it produced or industrialised,
but we wanted to bring to public
knowledge the existing natural
filtering methods that actually work
(if you do a Google search you
will find plenty of examples). The
goal was to illustrate the possible
perspectives offered by this filtering
system called phyto-purification and
start questioning the possibility to
integrate it into our houses, without
necessarily having a big garden to
make it work. More than an actual
‘design’ project, this bathroom
proposal should be considered as
a contribution to the public debate
regarding the effective water
preservation in our everyday life.”
Note from Jun Yasumoto: This
project is just a concept for the
moment, and it has no perspective
of being produced in a near future.
It has been developed together
with three other designers: Alban
Le Henry, Olivier Pigasse, and
Vincent Vandenbrouck. u
Water Sewage & Effluent January/February 2018
innovations
Through their roots, the floating
water hyacinths draw some of
the waterborne particles that are
still present in the water.
• The lemnas, which are also
aquatic plants, bind to the
remaining aquatic micro-
o rgani s m s t o com pl et e t he
filtering process.
• Finally, a carbon filter stops the
remaining micro-particles.
Yasumoto says, “With this project,
we tried to combine the pleasure of
taking a shower with the satisfaction
of recycling water. We didn’t want
to just technically recycle water, so
that you would use it just as you did
with normal tap water. We wanted
the recycling process to actually
interact with the use of the shower.
We thought that by conceiving this
very intricate relation between the
recycling of water and the user
experience, we could get the users to
also re-think the way they use water.”
He adds: “When we did this
project, the idea wasn’t really to
•
Japanese born, Paris-based designer
Jun Yasumoto developed the ‘phyto
purification bathroom’ together with
Alban Le Henry, Olivier Pigasse,
and Vincent Vandenbrouck. Using
a natural filtering principle called
phyto-purification, the bathroom
becomes a mini eco-system by
recycling and regenerating the
wastewater. The water from the
shower and the washbasin is filtered
through an organic system before
being re-used. Phyto-purification is
a natural water-recycling process,
which is commonly used in ecological
purification systems.
During its filtering process, the
water goes through different steps:
• The rushes are planted in sand,
which filters larger particles.
The root system of the rushes
contains various bacteria, which
break down these particles for
absorption by the plant.
• The reeds are planted next to
the rushes, as they can filter the
heavy metals from the water.
Phytobalneum – phyto-purification bathroom
33