Regardless of the reasons in a particular context, universal washrooms and change rooms are a crucial component to ensuring that our facilities are safe and accessible for the widest range of users who in turn require service in a wider range of manners. In response, many architects and building operators are reconsidering how washrooms and change rooms are configured, which impacts both typical gender-designated spaces (ones built for men and women separately) as well as the emerging universal models. This design evolution is part of a period of change where the normative separation by gender, which is reflective of a complex history of access and exclusion in our shared spaces, remains dominant.
sb 6/2018
There is shift to a widening understanding of access that has led to washrooms (single-user and multi-stall) and change rooms that are more inclusive for a wider range of users. They are often referred to as universal or all gender, with the term ‘universal‘ emerging as best practice. Universal washrooms and change rooms are being provided alone and alongside gender-designated options across a wide range of private and public buildings, from recreation centres to schools to private businesses. One of the challenges is to respond to evolving social values in a manner that recognizes the deeply embedded set of expectations of community members. The design response needs to be flexible to both context and the continuing evolution of our communities’ values.
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