Public Washrooms

Public Washrooms Part I: 

What do public washroom facilities look like in just, green and thoughtful cities? How do they work? 

Access to public washrooms is a basic need. Yet, they haven't received the attention they deserve in our communities. Municipalities across Canada, including Vancouver, are developing washroom strategies and plans. In this session we envisioned what we can do in the future but also addressed the massive health impacts in communities such as the DTES right now.

We went beyond standard public washroom structures and considered innovative designs that aimed to be beautiful, functional, safe and accessible. Can these facilities serve broader community and cultural needs, and respond to wider societal concerns by incorporating green systems, new technology and non-defensive design features.

Public Washrooms Part II: 

This design orientated session focused on portables, stand-alones and easily deployable facilities. The aim was to come up with inspired alternatives to the porta-potty using a user-based co-design process.