Unsplash.com; Harry Cunningham
In 1967, architect Denise Scott Brown penned a heartfelt essay “Planning the Powder Room,” a wry and witty dissection of public restroom design for women (now reprinted in Having Words). “There are some areas where, in the nature of our society, personal experience is impossible for the male architect, and feedback from the public unlikely,” she writes. “I have become convinced that the architect’s lack of personal experience and involvement in what he is planning constitutes a real problem here—the more so since I imagine he is unaware of it.” Scott Brown continues to argue that the design of bathrooms, their fittings and layouts, reflected the diminished status of women in public spaces.
Fast forward to 2019, where we face a rancorous debate over bathroom gender inclusivity. [What] can we learn from the Ladies Room of Scott Brown’s essay and experience? Are we still “having words” instead of creating understanding?
In 2015, the American Institute of Architects pushed for change to model codes. The resulting 2018 International Plumbing Code (IPC) updates signage requirements for single-user restrooms, adding the following crucial language: “Single-user toilet facilities and bathing rooms, and family or assisted-use toilet and bathing rooms shall be identified for use by either sex." Yet there are states seeking to restrict bathroom use to one’s assigned gender while others take steps toward all-gender inclusion ahead of new code adoption and standardization.
Behind the scenes
For architects and building owners, [public facility] bathrooms can be an opportunity to lead through design, showing why multi-user public restroom design is [both] cost effective and sustainable. Hospitality and private workplace environments have been leaders in this effort, demonstrating restroom innovation is good business. Moving away from traditional restroom layouts, these best practice examples embody many different user groups efficiently and economically.
When every bathroom is identical, they count towards a net total fixture count, which allows for flexibility in configuration of fixtures and sinks.
Desegregating “private” bathroom hallways into “public” lounges encourages everyone to pass through a restroom with ease and accessibility. When every bathroom is identical, they count towards a net total fixture count, which allows for flexibility in configuration of fixtures and sinks. For example, floor-to-ceiling stalls can form a perimeter around communal washing and grooming stations, maximizing use and creating circulation that optimizes user flow.
It is not about thinking in pairs anymore – one men’s room for every women’s room. Learning From the Ladies Room, will architects begin to design [based on the] needs of everyone by designing ahead of code? [Will the] inconvenience of parents taking a child of the opposite gender to the restroom be eliminated? And potty parity—the adequate supply of fixtures in recognition of the longer average bathroom use time among women and children—[can it be better accommodated]?
[The Editor of Church.Design asks for design reader thoughts and ideas in the "Comments" section below.]
