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Smarter Restrooms for Portland: Key Concepts and a Design Checklist

Smarter Restrooms for Portland: Key Concepts and a Design Checklist. by PHLUSH September 2007. Key Concepts. Direct access Unisex CPTED. Key Concept 1: Direct Access. Individuals access stalls directly from pubic area. No double doors! restroom door + stall door

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Smarter Restrooms for Portland: Key Concepts and a Design Checklist

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  1. Smarter Restrooms for Portland:Key Concepts and a Design Checklist by PHLUSH September 2007

  2. Key Concepts • Direct access • Unisex • CPTED

  3. Key Concept 1: Direct Access • Individuals access stalls directly from pubic area. • No double doors! restroom door + stall door • Small stalls encourage occupancy by one person only, deterring undesirable behavior. • ADA stall can function as family restroom. • Avoids inefficiency of single occupant restrooms with wash basin, toilet, hand dryer etc all behind a single locked entry door.

  4. Key Concept 2: Unisex • Solves the gender parity issue - no lines at women’s. • Eliminates need for second ADA / family stall. • If emergency maintenance is required, single stall is closed off…the rest remain open. • Reduces maintenance costs. Open only one stall when traffic is light. Eliminates need for both male and female cleaning staff. • Safe environment for children accompanied by parent of opposite sex and for transgender people.

  5. Key Concept 3: CPTED • CPTED = Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. • Concerned with ways built and human environments can foster civil behavior and deter crime. • Pays attention to “Natural surveillance” that puts the eyes of public on facilities, through co-location of businesses, residences and places where people congregate.

  6. Multi-door vs. direct access • Saturday Market women’s room has door to restroom plus doors to stalls. • Hawthorne Bridge restrooms feature direct access to unisex stalls.

  7. Kellogg Park Restroom, La Jolla, California

  8. Features of Kellogg Park Restroom • All stalls are unisex. • Users have direct access to toilet stalls from park. • Hand washing station and showers are outside. • Entire facility is in line of sight of beach, residences, picnic areas, and life guard station. • Serves diverse users from children playing in the park to scuba divers who need showers. • Educational public art being installed nearby.

  9. A Proposal for PortlandCourtesy Mary Coakley, Board Member, American Restroom Association

  10.  Public Restroom Location • Are restrooms inside buildings or accessed from sidewalk? • Does location within the building facilitate or constrain use? • Located in heavy or light traffic area? • Do signs indicate existence of restrooms? Do signs indicate location of restrooms? Are there directional signs to restrooms? • Is it clear restrooms are public?

  11. Public Restroom Location

  12.  Doors to Multi-Stall Restrooms • Is main entry door lockable from inside? • Should main entry door be locked open? • What are sight lines if door is locked open? • What are sight lines when door opens temporarily? • Does door open out or into restroom? • Safety issues if door opens quickly? • Handicap auto open button? • Type of handle? • Must user touch door handle entering? • Must user touch door handle exiting? • Possibility of using foot pull?

  13.  Individual Toilet Stalls & Doors • Are stalls an optimal size or larger than they need to be? Are ADA stalls larger than 5’ x 7’? • Do privacy partitions provide an appropriate amount of cover? • Do stall doors have Occupied/Vacant indicators on latches? Can they be opened from the outside in event of emergency? • Can stall doors be opened from outside in case of emergency? • Do ADA stalls function as family restrooms where opposite sex caregivers feel comfortable?

  14.  Lighting • Is restroom adequately lighted at all times it’s open? • Is there natural light? Can it be increased by installing a window, skylight or glass bricks? • Is there adequate artificial lighting? • How is artificial light activated? Key switch? User switch? Motion activation? • Are signs on door and directional signage to restroom adequately lighted?

  15.  Floors, Walls and Ceilings • Are floors easy to clean yet non-slippery if water is present? • Are walls graffiti proof? Non-scratchable? Easy to clean? • What is the fire hazard, including risk of arson?

  16.  Restroom Fixtures • Adequate number of toilets, urinals, wash basins? • Appropriate hand drying system? • Baby changing area? • Appropriate place to put down or handbags? • Appropriate type and placement of trash bins? • Bins appropriate for sanitary napkin and diaper disposal? • Needles disposal box?

  17.  Signs • Do signs indicate the existence of public restroom? • Is there directional signage to restrooms? • Are external signs clear and unambiguous? International logo, picture or words? Does community understand unisex logo? • Are hours of operation posted? Is there a number to call if restroom is found locked? • Are signs ADA compliant? Size? Position? Braille? • Does interior signage include number to call for maintenance? • Should city codes on single occupancy be posted?

  18. Signs: Unisex symbol, directional sign in Seaside, and Portland retro

  19.  Maintenance Options • How do type & quality of fixtures & construction affect maintenance and cleaning? • How often is cleaning needed? • What is procedure and response time for emergency cleaning? • Can users clean up themselves? Are there at least paper towels? • Redesign with multiple direct entry unisex stalls? (With one open all the time and additional stalls closed when traffic is light, daily maintenance and scheduled renovation focuses on one stall.)

  20.  CPTED - Built Environment • How does restroom construction enhance safety? How does it detract from safety? • Is it possible for an intruder to trap a user inside? • Is there a space under the door so one can see if someone is sleeping or in distress? • Are stall partitions right-sized to allow privacy while deterring misuse? • How does the built environment around the restroom affect comfort and safety?

  21.  CPTED - Natural Surveillance and Site Activation • Are there “eyes” on the site which deter inappropriate behavior? • How can more eyes be brought to site? Water fountain? Bike rack? Parking pay station? Pathway route? • Can a business be co-located with restroom? What about push cart presence? • What are the local ordinances that impact behavior near or in public restrooms. • How often is area patrolled?

  22. Examples of Natural Surveillance • The public restroom at River Place is located between a coffee shop with outside seating and a high rise residential complex. • There’s a parking meter in front of the door, as is the case for several other PP&R facilities.

  23. Park Restrooms in Tucson, Arizona

  24. Notes from Discussion with Officer Jeff MeyersPortland Bureau of Police - Central Precinct, Neighborhood Response Team • Tucson, Arizona park restroom is an acknowledged success in CPTED (Crime Prevention through Environmental Design) • Open design allows law enforcement and public to monitor easily. • Large spaces under doors deter undesirable behavior. • City code is prominently displayed. • Facility has men’s and women’s stalls on opposite sides. However, these could be adapted as unisex stalls.

  25.  Electronic Monitoring • How feasible is video monitoring near the restroom? • What about motion sensors programmed to pick up violent or abnormal movements in restroom? • What about audio monitoring that picks up only screams? • What about using dummy cameras?

  26. Video monitoring • Entrance to TriMet unisex stalls at Washington Park MAX Station are monitored by closed circuit television cameras. Signs inform users they are being monitored.

  27. What Portlanders can do. • Use public restrooms. They were built for everyone and will improve when more people use them. • Report problems. For cleaning call Downtown Clean and Safe at 503.224.7383. Share suggestions on management with city officials or through PHLUSH. • Read “Going Public! Strategies for Meeting Public Restroom Need in Portland’s Central City.” Relief Works, PSU, June 2006. Download at www.americanrestroom.org/us/portland • Learn about Mayor Tom Potter’s Restroom Implementation Team and their work to increase downtown restroom availability. www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm?c=44879 • Contact PHLUSH. Your ideas and participation are welcome. If you’re building restrooms, we can review your plans and share what we’ve learned about restroom management and CPTED. 503.984.4081 or contact@steel-bridge.org

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