Office bathroom semi-public bathroom
Stadium/Airport public bathroom
A better public bathroom
One of the reason this blog has been quiet recently is that I have been busy with too many projects, one of which is just finishing up now. It’s a book about the politics and social life of public bathrooms that I am co-editing with Harvey Molotch and will come out maybe next fall with NYU Press. In the concluding chapter, in a practice uncharacteristic of sociologists, Harvey and I suggest a design solution to a social problem in the form of the schematics you see above.
Here’s the context that you would have gotten had you read the book:
1. There aren’t enough public bathrooms and access to safe, clean places to go often operates to sort out the undesirables and, thus, make them even more undesirable as they are faced with the nowhere-to-go situation.
2. Public bathrooms heighten fears of the Other via their association with waste and dirt (ala Mary Douglas). Electronic fixtures have been installed to alleviate the frisson of coming up against other people’s private moments, past and present (in the stall next to you). But electronic fixtures can be quite frustrating and controlling, especially if you are doing something out of the ordinary like trying to brush your teeth.
3. People who don’t conform to traditional gender norms are not well-served by the bathroom binary. A person got kicked out of a restroom for using the woman’s room when she didn’t appear to be feminine enough. Her attempt to prove that she now identified and had always identified as female was dismissed.
4. The assumption that visiting the restroom is an act undertaken by individuals is faulty. Pairs and groups go, too. People with disabilities might need to take a helper in with them and that helper may very well be of the opposite sex. Parents with young children have all sorts of difficulty. When their kids are babies, where does the stroller go? When they get to be tots, are they going to crawl under the stalls or sit on floors of dubious cleanliness while mom/dad uses the toilet? When they get to be old enough to know the difference between boys and girls but not old enough for mom/dad to feel comfortable letting them use the public restroom alone, what can be done?
5. Architects and regulatory boards often do not have the time or the desire to rethink the design of the bathroom. Offering up a schematic plan is a step towards closing the gap between social science research and the physical world under construction.
Our solution is to make bathrooms unisex. Rather than tuck each individual into a small room completely sealed off from other bathroom users, we maintained the shared space. There’s a lot to learn about navigating taboos in the bathroom, and sorting people into their own private rooms would eliminate those opportunities altogether. On top of the primary concern that sharing the anxious space of the public restroom is a socially productive situation, there’s also the problem that most buildings don’t have enough space for as many private stalls as would be required by law.
We’ve kept urinals because they are so much more environmentally sound than toilets. But they’re tucked away so that men will keep their privacy and women won’t be confronted with the potential site of a penis out of pants.
We’ve turned sinks and toilets into mechanisms operated with foot pedals. Women kick to flush anyways; putting the pedal on the floor makes it a whole lot more accessible and thus, safer.
We’ve suggested that prams and bikes and luggage are part of everyday life and they need a place to be. In the large public restroom, they are parked near an attendant’s area. In the office-scale version, there is a parking nook next to the hand dryers, outside the general circulation route and also outside the typical lines of sight to help prevent theft.
The question
What do you think of our attempt to solve social problems by design? Should we stick to sociology and leave the designing to the architects and planners? Or, is it helpful to see – in plan – how all of the bathroom difficulties from diverse user groups can sit more comfortably together in space?
Are these plans convincing as communication tools? As pieces of graphic design, what else could be done? (color isn’t an option)
Comments 14
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Laura Norén — November 17, 2009
** This comment was emailed to me by Mike Bader. **
I really liked your post about unisex bathrooms today and I wanted to take the opportunity to comment on the design. Unfortunately, I don't have access anymore to any design software or else I would try to draw some of the things that I am talking about.
My first concern is one that was drilled into me during architecture school as an undergrad (my undergraduate major is in architecture and art history): the plumbing costs of this design would be fairly large. The reason that you typically see all of the plumbing pushed against walls in public bathrooms is because it is much cheaper to run cores of plumbing up through adjacent walls and usually in other service shafts which is why bathrooms tend to be on the opposite side of buildings from elevators. Particularly the sinks in the middle of the bathrooms would be costly and, possibly, lead to a greater likelihood of breaking because the plumbing would have to be run from the wall under the floor to the center of the room. I think that this is less likely to be a problem in a large bathroom because floorplates tend not to be stacked, so you end up running plumbing all over anyway.
Second, the sight lines would make it likely that the urinals in both templates would still be visible (and uncomfortable). I drew the sight lines onto a printed copy and I will try to send them to you when I get access to a scanner. I think that there are ways to change some of the organization of the space, particularly the office prototype. I think that you can change the urinal space with the changing rooms, or you could put the sinks behind the wall and place the changing tables next to it.
Last, I'm not sure that you need the second bank of sinks (across from the urinals) in the arena prototype. I think that there would be enough sinks at the first, or maybe you could extend the number of sinks in that bank and then make the space a little bit more compact.
I don't mean to be critical -- I think that it is incredible that you and Dr. Molotch worked on this, I think that it is a great idea to create prototypes for people to use and a brilliant way to see it happen. It is funny that it is a little bit jarring to have a unisex bathroom -- I went to Union Hall in Brooklyn -- and I think that it was the first time that I had been to a unisex bathroom in a bar. I guess that the power of gendered spaces is just that strong that it is very surprising when your expectations aren't met.
I'm looking forward to the book and thanks again for posting such provocative posts.
Laura Norén — November 17, 2009
** My response to Mike (which was an email). **
Mike-
Thanks for this feedback. It's constructive and extremely useful. I have some questions and justifications. I hope you'll answer the questions, but feel free to poo poo the justifications.
I knew the plumbing issue might be a problem but I was trying to let the sinks be a screen (both visual and auditory) between zones. So here's my question: in a typical layout, say like in my bathrooms in my work place, there are three walls that have plumbing in them because there are three bathrooms (mens, womens, single user stall for handicap accessibility). So that requires plumbing in three locations. If, in the office location, I simply stuck the urinals on the exterior wall, we'd only need plumbing in three locations: the two exterior walls and the sink in the middle. So would that make it more feasible? I mean, the sink thing in the middle could be fairly industrial looking. The pipes could run up from the floor all the way to the ceiling with some sort of faucet popping off at the appropriate height. As for the stadium bathroom, moving the urinals around is non-trivial. I wonder how waterless the waterless urinals really are.
The reason I specifically stuck more sinks than absolutely necessary on the men's side in Le Grande bathroom was that evidence has suggested men are less likely to wash their hands. So I wanted to make sure that the sinks were almost in the way as they exited. As if maybe they'd fall in and get clean by accident. More likely, they wouldn't be able to resist the novelty (and doctorly-ness) of the pedal operated sink and have to give it a go. I don't know what to do when the novelty wears off. Hope the mere presence of females encourages more decorous behavior? It's hard to say.
There is still time to make changes to the design - the book isn't in print yet. So I will take your suggestions back to the drawing board with me.
On site lines: they'll certainly change if I move the urinals against the wall in the office scale bathroom. I will keep that test in mind as I go. A little visual leakage in some spots is OK and kind of intentional.
Laura Norén — November 17, 2009
** And Mike's response to me. Keep your eyes out for an updated 'bathroom of the future' design. **
I’m glad that my thoughts were helpful. Like I said, I really like the idea and think that it is great that you are working on it!
I’ll take a stab at your questions, although I should note that I never made it beyond architecture school. I couldn’t take designing and building models – the combination of my inherent procrastination and perfectionism made architecture somewhat of a poor fit for my personality =) The biggest thing about the plumbing is that you want to be able to run pipes through the walls from floor-to-floor. You could do something really creative where the piping on each side become the brackets that hold the mirrors in place (a la Pompidou Centre), but that would make it less of a prototype, which is my understanding is more of what you want. Or, you might be able to expand the space where the mirror is to be about 14”-16” wide and run the piping through a wall in the center. I think that would also help with the barrier. I actually think that you might have a little bit more space than you are giving yourself because it doesn’t look like your bathroom would take up as much room as two bathrooms (men and women) or three (men, women, unisex/handicap/family). If that were the case, then it probably wouldn’t be a problem to run the piping through a wall that could be carried up in elevation. I don’t think that the plumbing is as big of a deal in the arena because so much of that construction is custom spec anyway, that it wouldn’t be a substantial cost to add plumbing, although it might be useful to make the wall holding the driers a little bit wider to run electrical/plumbing so that there wasn’t such a large expanse (the length of the bathroom) without it. Also, for the arena, I actually think if you just got rid of the last sink on the left, then the sight-line problems would disappear.
On the sinks – I think that many men are largely disgusting, but I like the idea of putting the sinks in the way of the exit to encourage sanitary behavior. I wonder if some kind of creative signage might help with hand-washing. Also, having ample soap would also help I think, but there is no amount of design that will help that, I’m afraid. I have actually been to some old-school stadiums where there were big trough-like sinks with foot-pedals and I seem to think that it actually helped with hand washing, but that is entirely anecdotal on my part.
On the visual leakage, I think that a certain amount is okay. On the other hand, I think that it would be difficult for people to buy-in initially without some sense of privacy (old habits die hard). I think that it is especially important for the office prototype because it would be really uncomfortable to be seen by someone who I work with and have a relationship with (as opposed to strangers in the arena). I think that a little leakage would be okay, but right now, I think that someone would be able to see everything almost upon entering the bathroom from where the door is.
Laura Norén — November 17, 2009
** And I got this email about the bathrooms from Jay Livingston. **
As for restrooms, aren't public restrooms in France unisex. I recall going down into one guarded by some old crone jingling her centimes in an ashtray (hint, hint) and looking in vain for a sign that said Hommes. Also, these days a lot of college dorm restrooms are unisex. (I assumed that for women in dorms, the problem with unisex bathrooms was not modesty but cleanliness. Men are pigs.) And I assume you know that blogger Dan Myers has a more-than-passing interest in urinal sociology.
>> I did not know about the urinal blog, but here's a link. <<
Dan Myers' Urinal Blog
Peaches — December 3, 2009
As a young woman, strange creepy men often think it's okay to stare at me or touch me in other public spaces, most notably on the bus. I would be very concerned about this kind of uncomfortable interaction in unisex bathrooms. (In elementary school, another girl did look over the stalls at other girls, including myself. I'm sure if a child can do it, an adult can as well.)
I'm not sure if a social learning opportunity would be enough incentive for me to risk feeling violated.
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Jacqueline — February 4, 2011
I like the design a lot. I am female and I would welcome the idea of a unisex restroom. There would be much less waiting. It bugs me how much time my fellow females need to spend in the restroom doing unnecessary things a d taking an unnecessary amount of time. I would for sure make use of the urinals. Don't see how I could without exposing the world? Well obviously you ate up the lies they fed you in preschool. Ha! That's another lie you learned in preschool. Women can pee standing up. Just keep reading and absorb. I do it all the time and you gals should too. My advice: learn to pee standing. Here's how:
Step 1: stand facing downhill or stand on a flat surface.
Step 2: if wearing zippered pants, unzip fly and take crotch of underwear to side. If wearing pants with an elastic waist, lower the waist of underwear and pants in front (don't pull pants all the way down). If wearing a skirt (this is recommended for beginners), lift skirt in front and either lower waistband of underwear or pull crotch of underwear to side.
Step 3: use both or just one hand to spread your labia and pull up. I recommend using both hands to start out with because it offers a greater amount of control.
Step 4: begin peeing hard and then back off a little bit to minimize drips and spraying. End hard.
Tips:
I recommend practicing in the shower and at home before you attempt in public. It took me about five months to learn it and now, two months later, I have mastered it. Just so you know, you will fail the first few times you attempt it (that's why you try it in the bath first) but whatever happens, NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER because the frustration and clean-up is ALL worth it. If this helps, you might consider that the amount of time it takes you to learn it is less than the amount of time it takes for guys to. Just always THINK POSITIVE and imagine how awed people will be by your talent. When they waste time scrambling to find toilet paper and a place to hide, all you have to do is turn away from prying eyes and cooly relieve yourself without exposing any more skin than men do (less, in fact because nothing sticks out. Even if people see you from the side, they will not see anything important!). Have fun, keep dreaming, and above all, THINK POSITIVE!
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