Interior Design of the Big Brother House
Love it or hate it, Big Brother has dominated our TV screens for over 10 years. A whole generation has grown up with it, swallowing the notion that celebrity status is achievable by appearing on a reality show. We may dislike that it perpetuates the present culture of entitlement, but its popularity shows no sign of abating.
The Big Brother house may not be on your radar when it comes to interior design, but if you can bear to take a peek inside this warped reality then you could come away with some surprising ideas for your own interiors.
The theme
The faux Big Brother house is annually reinvented and somewhat rebuilt to house each year’s theme. This year the theme is called Power Trip and is evoked through futuristic, geometric and angular styling. There is a predominance of glass throughout the house with mood lighting and high-tech screens streaming data at the whim of Big Brother. The strong geometric feel continues with the flooring and contemporary furniture boasting good looks over comfort. The high-tech edge and harsh lighting is marginally softened with contemporary curves and faux greenery, albeit architectural and spiky.
But this is Big Brother after all and comfort is not high on the agenda. In fact the interior is designed to keep its inhabitants on edge, thus fuelling clashes and group divides for car-crash TV.
Having said that, the contents of the house (contestants aside) are generally stylish, quirky and thought provoking. Little design touches that may go unnoticed by the temporary inhabitants, and innovative state of the art technology, add to the overall cohesive design.
Just remember a little themeing goes a long way, so don’t overdo it.
The bathroom
The Big Brother bathroom looks spacious until you remember that 16 contestants have to harmoniously co-exist in the house before the first eviction. A wall of floor to ceiling windows allows natural light to flood in and balance out the harsh lighting. A generous oval bath tub resides opposite a beautiful contemporary, partially frosted glass walk-in shower enclosure. On trend ‘green walls’ made up of faux planting continue to bring the outdoors in and reinforce the message that plants are great stress relievers.
The oversized windows, on-display shower, spectator seating and numerous cameras do nothing for privacy, but hey, this is the Big Brother house and that’s the whole point.
Privacy issues aside, what this design does highlight is that statement baths and showers look amazing given enough room to shine in well designed bathrooms. Natural and artificial lighting both have a role to play and balancing an injection of bright colour with grey and neutral tones looks stunning.
The toilet
One of the high-tech surprises to test the contestants this year is the addition of a Japanese toilet. For those who are not familiar with these toilets an array of buttons operate the following features: seat warming, washing (bidet style) and drying. Who needs toilet roll?
Whether the Big Brother designers have hit the spot or not the interior is definitely worth perusing via your telly box. Just hit mute to discard the white noise of the contestants, or better still view the images of the house here.