The design of public bathrooms and changing facilities has historically catered to a generalized notion of user needs, often oversimplifying the complexities of gender-specific requirements and falling short of supporting the unique needs of women. These needs extend beyond biological differences—such as the necessity for more stall privacy and differences in height and body posture—to include cultural factors that influence restroom use and expectations over time.
For instance, women's contemporary clothing often lacks adequate pocket space, resulting in the need to carry a handbag, even for simple essentials like phones and wallets. Despite efforts in recent architectural designs to address these disparities, the layered nuances of biological, cultural, and gender identity factors present a multifaceted challenge that defies a one-size-fits-all solution.
Contemporary projects have shown an increased awareness of spatial equity, paying careful attention to how female restrooms can be designed to offer accessibility and convenience on par with male restrooms. Some approaches focus on complete neutrality through unisex bathrooms with gender-neutral stalls, erasing distinctions. Others emphasize spatial equity (equal floor area) or fixture equity (equal numbers of fixtures), striving for visible and quantifiable fairness in urban infrastructure. Meanwhile, some designs maintain a gender-specific approach, with increased stall availability for one gender over the other. As we explore and reflect on current bathroom designs that seek to promote equality, we shall also consider how best to achieve meaningful, practical spatial-gender equality in public facilities within urban environments as both users and designers.
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Bathrooms That Innovate in Materials, Layout, and OpeningsRethinking Unisex Bathrooms: Are Homogeneous Designs Ignoring Essential User Needs?
A significant design shift in recent years has been the rise of unisex bathrooms, intended to promote equality by standardizing facilities for all genders. While this approach appears equitable on the surface, it often overlooks the biological and cultural differences in how different genders use bathrooms. By homogenizing bathroom spaces and fixture counts in the name of equality, are designers simply sidestepping the nuanced challenges of spatial equity? Achieving genuine user equity in diverse populations requires more than uniformity.
Unisex bathrooms may offer streamlined facilities, but this standardization rarely accounts for specific needs, particularly those of women, such as hygiene requirements, adequate changing space, and the additional time required for restroom use. While intended to create equality, the shift to unisex stalls can fail to provide practical and thoughtful support for all users. Moreover, it can inadvertently create awkwardness, especially in indirect interactions between genders as they exit the stalls. The lack of privacy may also make it more difficult for individuals to fix their clothing or appearance, creating a less comfortable or secure environment compared to traditional gender-specific bathrooms.
Despite their limitations, unisex bathrooms offer a safer and more inclusive approach to restroom design for all genders, beyond women and men. By isolating each stall as a private boundary, they redefine the communal washroom space to be more open and welcoming, allowing the sink and mirror areas to be accessible to everyone. This approach is exceptionally accommodating for the evolving spectrum of gender identities, addressing both 'biological' and 'identified' gender considerations without creating potential confusion or conflicts among users. In this way, unisex bathrooms continue to be one of the most friendly and accessible solutions for diverse gender expressions and needs.
Periscope Toilet / Hexia Architects
Bridge - Toilet / FMD
Kiosks and Public Toilets / LANZA Atelier
Spatial vs. Fixture Equity in Restrooms: Addressing Different Metrics for Women's Bathroom Accessibility
When public restrooms are not designed as unisex, the concept of equality often centers on either spatial or fixture equity—two quantifiable metrics for assessing equal access to public facilities. Spatial equity provides an equal amount of floor area for different genders, while fixture equity ensures an equal number of stalls or fixtures for each.
Spatial equity is often considered the most financially balanced approach, particularly in high-cost urban areas where every square foot has economic value. From a financial standpoint, providing equal floor area for male and female restrooms can be viewed as a fair allocation of resources. However, spatial equity does not always equate to other equality metrics, such as fixture equity. For example, men's restrooms often incorporate urinals, which require less floor space than enclosed stalls. As a result, a bathroom with equal floor area but mixed fixtures may have more overall fixtures in the men's restroom, potentially creating an imbalance in fixture availability.
Some restroom designs prioritize fixture equity by ensuring equal fixture counts between male and female facilities, even if this requires differing floor areas. This approach compensates for the smaller footprint of urinals by adding more enclosed stalls in women's restrooms, thus balancing fixture availability. However, fixture equity alone can be insufficient for true restroom equality, as urinals and stalls serve distinct purposes, leaving open questions about their functionality and inclusivity as a fixture count.
Successful projects often navigate these nuances by addressing spatial and fixture equity in tandem, creating a balanced, hybrid approach tailored to local needs, land economics, and gender demographics. This integrated strategy strikes a thoughtful balance, accommodating diverse user needs in public restrooms while supporting genuine inclusivity and accessibility.
Palm Toilet Facing the Sea of Flowers / Zaixing Architectural Design
Red Brick Public Toilet on Liuba Old Street / Shulin Architectural Design
Public Toilets / Piotr Musialowski + Lukasz Przybylowicz
Public Toilets in Zuzhai Village / cnS
Mt Tung-Yen Public Toilet / AMBi Studio
From Oversight to Insight: Tailoring Restroom Ratios for Gender Inclusivity in Urban Infrastructure
Specific bathroom designs continue to prioritize one gender, sometimes due to oversight in addressing equitable needs, though more frequently, this is influenced by specific demographic or operational considerations. In some cases, owners or designers may intentionally adjust restroom ratios to reflect user patterns; for example, a female-majority shopping area might benefit from a higher ratio of women's facilities to better meet actual demand rather than adhering to a uniform restroom distribution. Similarly, areas with predominately male visitors or employees may inform a more male-oriented restroom layout.
In one recent example, a renovation of the Hunan Street Public Service Station by Steamarch, the designers recognized that the existing infrastructure didn't fully address contemporary expectations for gender balance. The design revision incorporated changes in both spatial arrangements and fixture counts. These adjustments, along with reorienting elements like entryways and landscape features, created a more balanced distribution of floor area and facilities between male and female users, addressing the needs of both genders more equitably. As urban infrastructure evolves and renovates, architects are increasingly mindful of adapting public amenities to reflect these shifts, even while "true" restroom gender equity remains challenging to define.
The Rest Space at the Top of Mt.Rokko / ofa
Circle of Forest and People Public Restroom / Yamashita Sekkei
Hunan Street Public Service Station / Steamarch
The Hidden Impact of Time in Achieving Gender Equity in Public Restrooms
In addressing equality in urban infrastructures, the underlying motivation appears rooted in achieving easily quantifiable equality, justifying design decisions. However, creating genuine gender equity in restroom design involves more than simple metrics; other factors, such as time spent in facilities, are often overlooked. Studies show that women typically require more time in restrooms—averaging 1 minute 30 seconds compared to men's 1 minute. In a five-stall restroom, this difference means that in 15 minutes, approximately 50 women could use the restroom compared to 75 men, creating a notable disparity. How can we design better to address the often imbalanced waiting times for public bathrooms, frequently with a significantly longer queue for female stalls? While no single approach may fully address all aspects of restroom equity, regularly assessing fixture count, spatial allocation, and user convenience is crucial in evolving restroom design to more inclusively meet diverse needs.
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Women in Architecture presented by Sky-Frame.
Sky-Frame is characterized by its empathic ability to take on different perspectives and points of view. We are interested in people and their visions, whether in architecture or in a social context. We deeply care about creating living spaces and in doing so we also question the role of women in architecture. From the arts to the sciences, women shape our society. We want to shed more light on this role, increase the visibility of Women in Architecture, and empower/encourage them to realize their full potential.
Initiated by Sky-Frame, the "Women in Architecture" documentary is an impulse for inspiration, discussion, and reflection. The film's release is on November 12, 2024.
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