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Systematic washplace design by Alape:
holistic concepts for bathroom planning

Goslar, March 2009: A clearly systematic product policy, a material with simply unlimited possibilities, purist design combining a unique aesthetic look with functionality, together with know-how and innovation powers - that's Alape, an SME company with a workforce of around 210 employees in Goslar that develops and manufactures top quality bathroom furnishing products and exports them all over the world.

Building developers, planners and users are making ever increasing demands of the design for contemporary rooms. Holistic concepts are required for private bathrooms and semi-public sanitary facilities in order to comply with a wide range of different functional requirements while permitting individual design expression and being economical in daily use.

A material for freedom of design
Alape uses glazed steel, an ideal composite, to create pure forms and purist, high-precision basins. It is highly durable, tough, hygienic, impact- and scratch-proof with a brilliant colour.
"Our aim is to exploit the concise nature of this material to the full", says Jürgen Kloss, responsible for design and product on the Management Board at Alape.
This concise nature includes the precision, geometry and planeness that can only be achieved with glazed steel. With its workforce of around 210 employees, the company from Lower Saxony is going new ways. And not only in terms of physically visible factors. Alape has also cooperated with the Technical University of Berlin in a procedure for sound optimisation of large hollow structures made of glazed steel, similar to an automotive process. The concise nature of the material also includes the way it opens up the freedom of design for purist shapes, developed by Alape together with its design partners busalt design/Traunreut, Yorgo Lykouria Design/London and sieger design/Sassenberg. This results in products that focus on the quality of the material. Alape basins look aesthetic right down to the very last loving detail. From the choice of the primary materials through to edging, welding, grinding and firing: "Achieving the best results entails keeping an eye on the ideal interaction of many parameters", says Kloss. For example, robots are used for laser cutting procedures or for welding; manufacturing processes are also used where appropriate, depending on which method provides the best support when it comes to the resulting quality.

Innovation power with a long tradition
As a manufacturer of top quality bathroom furnishing products, Alape looks back on its own long tradition of innovations. During the '40s, the first multi-purpose basin came on the market, known as a classical sink. 1970 saw the start of production for EW3, at that time the world's first and Germany's most successful steel enamel built-in basin. Shortly after, Alape's first washstand furniture put the company up there among the pioneers of a holistic approach to bathroom design. During the '80s, cooperation with sieger design saw the development of formative products such as Lavarset, Lavarlo, Rondo and Fontana; these were sieger design's first steps towards industrial design. The takeover by Dornbracht in 2001 launched a new era with the company moving consistently in a focused direction. A purist assortment emerged with its components clearly organised according to structural elements, surfaces and functions. In 2006, Alape received the renowned Design Prize of the Federal Republic of Germany in silver for this component system. Built-in basins, sit-on basins and dish basins, base plates, stone, glass and wood elements, washstands and washplaces together with mirrors and furniture elements are the components with which planners and bathroom designers create highly varied, individual rooms.

Interaction of form and function
The new products for the main and guest bathroom being presented for the first time at the ISH 2009, together with new systems for semi-public rooms, once again demonstrate Alape's innovation powers. Crystalline takes up crystalline contours found in nature and transforms them into the world of bathroom architecture. Metaphor stands out not only with the purity of its geometric form but also with the well-conceived functionality of basin and furniture. The rectangular recess X.plicit supports various different architectural room concepts. The Inside washplaces combine a unique aesthetic look with functional storage. The systems A1 to A4 for semi-public rooms provide architects and planners with pre-defined interfaces, thus facilitating the implementation of sophisticated room concepts.


About the company
Alape, founded in 1896, produces top quality bathroom furnishings in metal and wood. Starting with individual components, such as built-in and sit-on basins, via complete units such as washstands, mirrors and a wide range of furniture, through to complete washplaces and wash rooms for private and semi-public use. A workforce of around 200 employees manufactures the Alape products at two sites in Goslar. Alape has been part of the Dornbracht Group since 2001.

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