Symposium and Design Workshop, in Enquiry Week: Water as Ritual

This enquiry week in collaboration with Axor / Hansgrohe SE will focus on the relevance and value of water in connection with cultural, social, health and wellness-related and everyday rituals. Based on the function of water, the element’s role for structuring everyday life, planning and awareness at the interface of water, man and nature will be analysed. The perception of water influenced by cultural backgrounds and disciplines is reflected in various formats of rituals. The power over and the use of water includes economic and cultural aspects on a global level, raising the questions: What are today's rituals for water in everyday life? What is the relationship between space - ritual - water? Are new typologies needed, such as new bath houses or shared bathrooms? Does water in rituals change our perception of space on all scales, from the private to the public? And can water act through rituals as a socio-cultural platform and innovation for urban lifestyles?

The symposium will present an interdisciplinary dialogue on the significance of water as an element in everyday rituals in different cultures and their spatial contexts. Presentations by a range of speakers from varying disciplinary backgrounds will introduce and explore the concept of water as ritual.

Welcome:  Hans-Jürgen Commerell, Director, ANCB The Metropolitan Laboratory, Berlin

Speakers: 10x10 presentations by the workshop participants, presenting their individual perspective on water rituals based on their cultural backgrounds

  • Roman Passarge, Axor / Hansgrohe SE, Schiltach
  • Ahmet Igdirligil, Sans Mimarlik, Bodrum
  • Dr. Harun Badakhshi, Charité School of Medicine and University Hospital, Berlin
  • Jörn Frenzel, eyLAND vatnavanir, Berlin


WORKSHOP: The symposium will kick off and inform a week-long design workshop with international participants focusing on water as ritual. The participants will explore two distinct yet overlapping aspects of the subject: wellness/spa/bathing in private and public spaces; and water as a design element. The social, environmental, cultural and economic contexts of different rituals will be questioned, as well as our physical, human relationship to water and ultimately what spatial implications such rituals have.

Final Presentation: Thursday, 28 August 2014, 6:00 pm at ANCB The Metropolitan Laboratory. All are welcome.