Like a giant-sized Swiss Army knife, this narrow column unfolds to reveal everything your bathroom could need – a NASA-worthy, space-age modular design idea.

A water-transmitting ‘spinal cord’ connects independently-rotating ‘vertabrae’, each of which includes a core function, from shower heads and cisterns above to storage in the middle and basins and toilets below.

The combined system mounts to the ceiling and floor to form single set of pivot points, providing stability for the spiraling functions in between and a single simple pair of inflows and outflows.

From Design Odyssey: “The Vertebrae was designed by Paul Hernon and it basically incorporates a toilet, a sink, a water cistern and two showers into an 8 foot tall compact steel column that can be folded up when not in use.

As for the intention: “It was designed for those living in a small cramped apartment who might not have the room for a bathroom with all the amenities they would like. Each module is hand crafted from 3mm aluminum with polished hand welded seams.”