The project I'm currently working on is mostly an infrastructure improvement project, so there are very few design opportunities. One of these is the public restrooms. I know, you're thinking bathrooms? Really? Well, yes. The bathrooms are the one area of the museum other than the admissions desk (yes! another design opportunity) that most of the public will visit.
So after a week full of meetings where I have very little time in the office, I come in, and one of my co-workers is drafting up a design of the women's room sketched by the partner we're working with. I look at it, absorb what his intent is, and a slow creeping feeling of dread soaks in.
There is fluorescent lighting.
There are individual mirrors in lieu of a continuous wall mirror.
There are no purse shelves.
There is a very twee looking wavy counter.
There are custom made trash receptacles that stick out past the curvy counter that I'm sure will result in bruises right at the hip bone.
Its all enough to make me wonder if he hates women.
About commercial/public restroom design: from the complaints I've gotten from women about the bathrooms that they use on a daily basis, my guess is that most of these spaces are designed by men. The bathroom in my office, for example, has multiple design flaws (yes, it was designed by the partner I'm working with). The lighting not only is fluorescent, its mounted to the wall above the mirrors in a way that the light level is diminished if you lean in close to the mirror. There are individual mirrors in front of the sinks, so if someone is adjusting her makeup (or just checking themselves out, playing with their hair) you can't get to a sink. There's also nowhere to put a purse or even a make-up bag.
I sat down with my boss to discuss the design, and to try to get him to relent on some on the things that I saw a problem with. After having to pull the 'well, as someone who happens to use a women's restroom everyday' card while discussing why I thought some things were problematic, he wouldn't budge. He did however, propose that I come up with a different design, and we'd present both options to the client group.
DESIGN SHOWDOWN, APRIL 28TH, 10AM
During one of our bi-monthy meetings, we presented both designs. My boss smugly asked me to explain some of the differences between the two designs. I took on one of the more critical differences, the opposite approaches to the mirror. When I explained that a continuous wall mirror allows someone to use the mirror without blocking a sink, all the women in the room exclaimed, "Oh!" They may as well have hit their palm against their forehead.
This is not rocket science.
In the end, the layout has incorporated ideas from both designs. The client group preferred the wavy counter. The fluorescent lights have been concealed in a cove construction, and we're adding incandencent lights above the sinks. We've incorporated purse shelves at each end of the counter. We're still waiting to hear back from them about the mirrors - some of the women get the idea behind the continuous mirror, but feel that it's too much reflection (wait until there's an event at the museum and you've got women competing for mirror space, that's what I say). We have added additional mirrors elsewhere in the bathroom to compensate.
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