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People’s Architecture Office (PAO) has completed a public restroom in Beijing shaped by a single meandering wall. Named Amoeba Public Restroom, the project is located in Manshan Park, a popular destination in Mentougou, Beijing known for its markets, exhibitions, and music performances. Image... View full entry
Nearly four years after floating the possibility, the city Department of Parks and Recreation is preparing for a trial run of prefabricated, kiosk-like bathrooms that cost a fraction of the multimillion-dollar price tag for building traditional restrooms.
The modular bathrooms resemble curved newspaper kiosks, with slatted sides that are intended to provide needed privacy, but also enough sightlines to dissuade illicit behavior.
— The City
The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation says there will be one test toilet for each borough at a cost of $185,000 each. Five other “comfort stations” are also currently in the department’s construction pipeline. According to them, the new pilot is meant to “determine the... View full entry
World-renowned Australian industrial designer Marc Newson has revealed his contribution to the Nippon Foundation’s ongoing The Tokyo Toilet public design project. Located in the capital’s tourist-heavy Shibuya ward, the Urasando toilet completes the project’s offering of 17 facilities placed... View full entry
A single-toilet public restroom planned for San Francisco’s Noe Valley Town Square is expected to take two years to build, but it’s already causing a stink. The reason: its $1.7 million price tag. — Los Angeles Times
The proposed restroom would sit within a 150-square-foot enclosure within the town square, located in central San Francisco. While there are no designs for the project available, it is expected to be delivered by 2025. According to the city, the high price tag is meant to account for unexpected... View full entry
As public bathrooms continue to be one of the rarest commodities in the city, the Adams administration has not provided a timeline or any details for the installation of 15 automatic sidewalk toilets unused for more than a decade.
But only five of the toilets have been installed and the city has struggled to find suitable new spots. For years, the others remained mothballed in a Queens warehouse but city officials declined to detail where they are currently located.
— The City
The toilets are a holdover of the Bloomberg administration, which signed a franchising agreement with Cemusa (later JC Decaux) in 2006 that was supposed to provide 20 such facilities at a cost of around $500,000 apiece. Recently, the city declared it will not force dining establishments to offer... View full entry
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Toyo Ito has unveiled a public bathroom in the shape of three mushrooms as part of the Tokyo Toilet project. Ito’s contribution is the 11th toilet to open out of the 17 spread and planned across Tokyo’s Shibuya district. The unique bathroom is located at... View full entry
Japanese fashion designer Nigo, the man behind the popular clothing brand, A Bathing Ape, has designed a public toilet that takes the shape of a small home as part of the Tokyo Toilet project. The toilet is located in the Harajuku district within central Tokyo, which is the region of the city that... View full entry
THE TOKYO TOILET, an initiative launched by the non-profit The Nippon Foundation to create save, clean, and appealing public restrooms throughout Tokyo's Shibuya ward, just completed its latest facility: Jingu-Dori Park, designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Tadao Ando, features a simple, functional... View full entry
Noteworthy Japanese architects, and even some Pritzker Prize laureates, are among the creators of 17 innovative public restroom designs throughout the bustling Shibuya area of Tokyo. Launched by the non-profit The Nippon Foundation, THE TOKYO TOILET project hopes to create save, clean, and... View full entry
Public health experts, designers and architects say the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed fundamental flaws in the design of public toilets that risk spreading a second wave of coronavirus, and possibly even new pandemics. [...]
Some of the suggested innovations include a greater uptake of sensor taps, fully self-cleaning cubicles, designing exits that don’t require human contact, and having bathroom attendants.
— The Guardian
The Guardian laying out suggestions from health experts on how to improve hygiene standards in public restrooms, not only in light of the current pandemic but in preparation of the next one. "We’ve almost got this little opportunity from the pandemic where people are going to listen and going to... View full entry
The Parks Department is looking to curb the cost of constructing new public bathrooms — by making them smaller...the agency is exploring stand-alone units tested in other cities, such as the Portland Loo and trailer-like bathrooms in Boston. — THE CITY
Following a $4.7 million comfort station at Ferry Point Park West and the prospect of a $6 million bathroom for another park on Staten Island, Mayor Bill de Blaisio vowed to address the rising costs to taxpayers, reports THE CITY. Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver has called the current... View full entry
Photogenic is probably not the first word that comes to mind upon hearing the phrase “public restroom”. But the Instagram account toilets_a_go_go by Tokyo-based photographer Hidefumi Nakamura proves that public toilets shouldn't have to look bland and gross. Since starting the Instagram... View full entry
The very first public toilets were introduced in 1851 in London’s Crystal Palace. George Jennings, a Brighton plumber, installed what he referred to as 'Monkey Closets' in the Retiring Rooms of the glass-and-iron hall for the Great Exhibition, where over 827,280 visitors paid a pretty penny to... View full entry
But this year’s champion bathroom, crowned by voters on Cintas’ website, is not nestled inside some upscale restaurant in a major city. It’s a public restroom in Minturn, Colorado.
A collaboration between the town of Minturn, LaN Architecture’s Monika Wittig, LGM 3d Studios, and Noble Welding, the restrooms are meant to resemble a passageway into a Rocky Mountain mine. “The town rallied together and showed the value of a restroom that’s creative and memorable for guests,” [...].
— citylab.com
From the America's Best Restroom Contest website:Founded in 1904, Minturn is rich in mining history and its new public restrooms reflect its past. The unique digitally fabricated shape of the men’s and women’s restrooms resemble an adit (horizontal passage way) into a Rocky Mountain mine. The... View full entry
Special guest Susan Surface, former Archinect editor now at Design in Public, joins us on Archinect Sessions to talk about recent developments in the state of gender inclusive design – specifically, in public restrooms.As the binary model of gender begins to slowly dissolve in the popular... View full entry
