Following a nationwide competition to find the bathroom of the future, Ideal Standard has announced the three lucky architect and design professionals whose ideas on how bathrooms will look, feel and perform in the future were chosen by the judging panel.

Jennifer Cairns from Lyall + Winter was the overall winner, who also walks away with the £5,000 cash prize. Her winning design identified key issues in planning future bathrooms, including space, accessibility, affordability and sustainability. The modularity of her designs allow for a number of layout options to suit the needs of different users within the bathroom by combining showering, basin washing and toileting in a self-contained modular pod.

Tony Rheinberg, head of commercial marketing for Ideal Standar, said: “We had a huge number of submissions, but Jennifer’s design was the clearest entry and extremely resourceful, it identified and addressed key issues in planning bathrooms of the future and overall was a very well presented entry.”

Second prize went to Onur Ozkaya, from London, who based her design on Sento, a traditional type of bathhouse found in Japan, which combines the functionality of bathing to clean with relaxation and the environment.

Third prize went to Nick O’Neill, from Edinburgh, whose concept revolved around a sunken bath to provide a fun bathing area that is more easily accessible for an aging population. The design offered an adaptable solution for long-term accessibility with an automated motorised shower platform, which included built in grab rails, which could be lowered to provide a level shower area.