P R E F A C E Jacky Suchail Founder of Jacky Suchail Architecture Urbanisme (JSA)
Because of their importance for survival, human beings have several essential functions, such as eating, drinking, sleeping, urinating, and defecating. Over the course of development of civilization, other related functions started to appear, notably washing and cleaning. These rituals are structured and characterize in their staging the lifestyles of different cultures. We can now see in our modern society the social and symbolic importance of actions such as eating and drinking, both which have become major foundations to social bonding. Spaces dedicated to these functions compose a city. To a certain extent, the dynamics of a neighborhood can be felt by the density of stalls, restaurants, cafĂŠs, and other places devoted to food and drink. Architecture has seized it so much that prestigious gastronomic places must now display culinary refinement in their built and decorative setting. Obviously, other biological functions have not obtained the same cultural recognition and do not symbolize an active social link. Although it is vital for everyone to go to the bathroom or to some similar place multiple times a day, this act is very private, even secret. Far from uniting individuals, it leads to the isolation, not gathering, of individuals. In the event it was necessary to build them, construction or developments related to daily needs have therefore been relegated, in discrete spaces away from representation. Addressing hygiene and comfort issues, however, require technical skill, much more important than most built spaces. The current control of this equipment allows us to
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erase most of the inconvenience. The modes of ventilation, evacuation, and rinsing currently make it possible to completely erase the odors and even the materiality of excrement, allowing it to quickly and unobtrusively disappear into buried pipes. The disappearance of the object of disgust makes it possible to revive the image of the toilets and transform them from places of repulsion into spaces reflecting cleanliness, hygiene, and even a certain quality of life. The restaurants we have already mentioned above have understood this point, and often their toilets give an air of refinement and quality to the place. Fashionable and busy establishments spend significant amounts of money to display their creativity and ambience through decorative and spatial arrangement of their toilets. Would the treatment and care of toilets reflect the cultural and social level of a country? It emerges in any case a problem at the scale of cities. The installation of extremely sophisticated public toilets paradoxically makes their access less convenient and more complex. The old smelly urinals and toilets in every nook and cranny of old cities, though repulsive, made it possible for all individuals to free themselves without worrying about their needs at any time of the day. The scarcity of new equipment that has often become lucrative becomes an obstacle to the freedom of certain categories of the population, such as the elderly and families with children. These new public facilities also pose a significant ecological problem; namely, the consumption of water and detergent products discharged into the plumbing and piping systems has become disproportionate compared to the number of users. Newer equipment, such as dry toilets, exist but are still difficult to exploit in cities.
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The realization of public bathrooms is therefore a timely subject on all technical, ecological, symbolic, and architectural levels. The technical and ecological issues remain closely linked. Future challenges will focus on water consumption, the principles of cleanliness, and also on speed and ease of use. It is not uncommon to see large queues in some busy places because the rate of use remains hampered by cleaning procedures after each individual. On a more social, urban or landscape level, the attractiveness of sanitary facilities will be all the more significant as these places can be transformed into spaces of pleasure and multiple conveniences. The arrangement of well-designed, landscaped stops with benches, fountains, and scenographic information points with toilets can transform these places into urban landmarks or meeting points. Public toilets have an important social role. Thinking of the paths in the city is also thinking of all those who will take them. The daily route of the elderly is thus often influenced by the presence or lack of toilet on their way. To be aware of this problem reveals our capacity to conceive a city for all. Constellating cities, these new landmarks have to be imagined, designed, and shaped. Thus, as Hector Guimard’s subway stops were able to symbolize the Paris of the early twentieth century, new generation of hygiene stops could become the contemporary emblems of the twenty-first century metropolises.
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T H E N E W P U B L I C R E S T R O O M By Olivia Cheung Ricardo Zurita Architecture & Planning, P.C. (RZAPS)
Introduction Public restroom design is entering a new age. Once left on the margins by architects and designers, public restroom design is now undergoing an architectural revolution. Its design evolution has been relatively slow, due to socio-cultural attitudes and taboos surrounding this topic. The first freestanding public restroom, the ‘pissoir,’ appeared in 1830s Paris as a simple metal screen to post advertisements and mask urinals. Since then, a handful of iterations have emerged such as the self-cleaning, automated restroom, but few designs have moved beyond simply fulfilling practical requirements. Fortunately, we are noticing an insurgence of exciting and progressive designs that are embracing the importance of public restrooms in contemporary public life today. The renewed interest in the design and provision of public restrooms is parallel to the growing demand for quality public spaces, walkable streets, as well as healthy and active living standards. We will explore the prominent aspects to consider in public restroom design, including accessible and universal design criteria, user-friendly and high-tech services, hygiene
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Isemachi Public Toilet (Designed by Kubo Tsushima Architects, Poho by Koji Fujii )
Hiroshima Park Restrooms (Designed by Bunzo Ogawa, Photo by Toshiyuki Yano)
and safety, and architectural qualities. It is the care and thoughtfulness paid to these attributes that make the remarkable collection in this book a striking example of the power in the design of public restrooms.
Development of Public Restroom Design The design of public restrooms around the world has been influenced by historical milestones with the development of modern toilet and sanitary systems as well as the establishment of civil rights for women, people with disabilities and various disenfranchised groups. As a result, the introduction of accessibility and equal access laws has vastly changed the design, look and use of public restrooms. The configuration of public restrooms in the West consists of the modern flush toilet, the provision of separate facilities for men and women and integrated design considerations for people with disabilities. Increasingly, unisex or all-gender restrooms are provided to replace or add to gender-segregated facilities to accommodate for more users. In the rest of the world, these facilities vary, ranging from Western-style, modern restrooms to communal rooms with squat-style toilets common in Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
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User-Centered Design Considerations The inclusion of different user groups in the design of public restrooms was first introduced in 1960s America with the mandate to make public facilities accessible to people with disabilities. Since then, accessibility considerations have revolutionized its design around the world. In turn, this influenced the extension of the definition of users to include all user groups, regardless of age, size, health concerns, culture, or disability—the philosophy of universal design. Universal design is increasingly being adopted in design guidelines and by design professionals as a new standard for public restroom design. Psychology & Behavior We are taught from an early age to attach shame and secrecy to the restroom. It is believed the notion that humans have an instinctual aversion to bodily waste evolved in order to prevent disease and contamination. In a public setting, the act of ‘going to the restroom’ is associated with feelings of anxiety, vulnerability and sometimes even fear; conversations and contact with others is generally avoided. Design considerations must be made in order to decrease psychological discomfort to promote comfort and privacy. Strategies include the provision of physical boundaries to separate toilets and urinals, in the form of partial or floor-to-ceiling partitions around the fixtures. Floor-to-ceiling Waitangi Toilet Block (Designed by HB Architecture, Photo by Simon Devitt)
partitions would provide the ideal protection and measure of privacy not only visually, but in terms of sounds and smell. In Japan, toilet technologies including devices emitting flushing sounds and music are available to mask embarrassing noises. Another privacy strategy is to orient the toilet stalls away or out of sight from the entrance. Accessibility & Age Accessibility standards have been implemented in most countries in the West. These standards provide guidelines for the design of public restrooms to be inclusive of people with disabilities, especially for those using wheelchairs. Universal design standards
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The design solution envisaged a collection of individual toilets, scattered between the existing buildings and redwoods, connected by a raised organic meandering boardwalk. The architects also conceived a cylinder of Cor-Ten steel and created an opportunity to introduce elements of storytelling and indigenous art. A design competition was held to select the final laser-cut art designs. The winning artist of the design competition was Kereama Taepa, a local indigenous art teacher. His designs fuse the traditional Maori kowhaiwhai patterns with imagery of thriving and extinct native birds. The underlying | ATTRACTION IN ATTRACTIONS |
message of the art work is to serve as a reminder to the fragility of the environment, the flora and fauna and the impacts this can have on the native bird species. With the focus on the outward architecture and appearance to be harmonious with the landscape surroundings, the idea emerged to create a vibrant interior, like a ‘tardis,’ where stepping inside was an oxymoron of the exterior. While the function of the toilets is uncompromising and employs robust materials, the opportunity to create an unexpected experience became the focus of the cubicle. A fabricated structural aluminum frame and disc roof is fitted with brightly colored compact laminate panels. High-level perforated aluminum screens allow natural light, ventilation and exclude the bugs of the forest. Under the darkness of the forest canopy, lighting positioned between the shrouds and cubicles would highlight the art, but also provide inconspicuous ‘way-finding’ lighting. The Redwood Visitor Center Toilets are an artistic and sensitive response to an area of high natural beauty. Although their gentle and harmonious presence does not compete with the magnificence of the environment, it is for this reason that they have become an attraction in their own right.
3 | Toilet placements and orientations allowing privacy for users
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Axonometric diagram
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Pattern
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1 Carpark ● 2 Toilets ● 3 Visitor centre ● A random pattern emerges from site survey due to redwood trees growing out of the original grove lines.
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Toilets as individual cubicles are located in the build zone as a considered placement beween the redwood roots.
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A raised timeber boardwalk organically meanders between the new cubicles and redwoods connecting the existing toilests and visitor center.
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Typical elevation
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Typical cubicle plan
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Typical section
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Outline of shroud artwork Perforated aluminium screen Compact laminate walls Aluminium structural frame and disc roof Timber subfloor and services cavity Stainless steel fittings Vinyl flooring Shallow foundations Security door Boardwalk deck
4 | Lighting enabling patterns to come to life under shade of forest canopy 5 | Vibrantly colored interiors creating harmonious outward appearance
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| CITY LIFE |
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Waitangi Toilet Block
The brief was to create a new facility, which was light and airy, connected to the exterior. These facilities were required to be a ‘delight.’ Timber was always going to play a major part in the finishing of the building. This is a ‘hut in a bush’—reminiscent of the basic buildings of this land.
Location | Waitangi, New Zealand Architect | HB Architecture Area | 967 square feet (90 square meters) Photography | Simon Devitt Client | Waitangi National Trust
The building consists of a large gabled roof supported on a post and beam structure with glass walls covering 50 percent of the exterior beneath. The solid surfaces of the walls are concrete block, which is tiled as for the floor to the interior and enclosed with pine boarding to the exterior. Along the ridge of the roof is a skylight, which floods the building with natural light. Along the glazed wall, a vertical timber screen is placed, reminiscent of a rough timber palisade, filtering light as well as vision into the building
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1 | Front entry 2 | Timber screen
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| NEW RURAL TIME |
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Flotane
The fjord landscape of western Norway is not only characterized by precipitous mountain slopes, glaciers, deep valleys, and fjords but also by fertile agricultural areas and picturesque villages. These attractions have made the National Tourist route Aurlandsfjellet from Aurland to LĂŚrdal a
Location | Aurlandsfjellet, Norway Architect | LJB AS Area | 215 square feet (20 square meters) Photography | LJB AS, E. Marchesi (interiors), H. Benrdtson. Client | Statens Vegvesen–Turistvegprosjektet
popular detour with travelers. The route is open to traffic every year from June to September. Flotane rest stop is located at 3937 feet (1200 meters) above sea level on the top of Aurlandsfjellet, a rocky and dramatic plateau characterized by desolate landscape and harsh climate. Flotane is covered by the snow for eight months a year but during the summer is a popular starting point for high mountain hiking. The intervention consists of a small toilet building and a parking and rest
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1 | View of rest stop next to hiking trail 2 | Building with warm oak and concrete shell framed by stone wall
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Title: Public Restroom Design Author: Olivia Cheung [Ed.] ISBN: 9781864708073
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