Public Potties Previewed

The Department of Tranportation revealed prototypes of the public toilets that are part of the $1 billion street furniture deal the city struck with outdoor company Cemusa last fall. While the papers are detailing the minutiae of doing your business in a this toilet (pay 25 cents for 15 minutes in the stainless steel and frosted glass water closet; door will open after 15 minutes), Gothamist wondered how this preview worked if you couldn't actually use the toilets. In fact, the NY Times had a quote from the American Institute of Architect's NYC executive director Frederic Bell, who thought it "elegant and functional":

"I saw it and I really wanted to use it. Whether you're sitting on a toilet or buying a newspaper, design matters."

And design matters when you're reading a newspaper on the toilet! The head of Cemusa Toulla Constantinou said, "Cemusa is committed to bringing New Yorkers the world-class street furniture they deserve." Um, street furniture that'll survive various forms of defacement and debasement? The DoT's press release, though, said that Grimshaw Architects's "distinctive design will enhance and enliven the streetscape while standing up to the rigors of sidewalk life in New York City," so we can only imagine the kind of focus groups and user testing they conducted. Overall, these toilets look beautiful, but we are skeptical how nice they'll look after one week. And we bet there will be lines outside of them.

There will be 20 public toilets; no word on where, but it seems like they'll be near parks. Add Your Own has a list of public bathrooms, the Privy Council is eagerly awaiting the public toilets and perhaps if you had a need to go card, you could make most any bathroom public. And in other DoT recent bathroom news, there was the discovery of the bomb shelter under the Brooklyn Bridge with the water drums that would be converted to commodes.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on March 23, 2006 9:49 AM

Comments [rss]

sexandthecityfan

i think these bathrooms are such a good idea... they give people a place to do their business in a sanitary environment without joining NYSC! Now if they could only apply this concept to the entire city... that would be a miracle... just imagine.... a clean city.... nah

C

holy crap, so i can take a piss, and then proceed to roll a blunt after...all in the warmth of this thing? SWEET!

wside

nothing wrong with hosing off the homeless. this is win-win.

Brightliner

Anyone ever use the public restrooms in Columbus Park in Chinatown? Nasty! But when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Actually, the bums may like the hot water spray of the restroom interior. Hey, free shower! Stay another fifteen minutes and you do do the laundry, too.

your sister's gay boyfriend

I actually got stuck in one of the pay-per-shitters when I visited London when I was like 5. I was hopelessly lost and a cop had to get up on top of the toilet to open the door.

So yeah, if you want to sneak a peek, there might be an emergency button hidden on the roof.

pugsley

Who wants to sit on a steel seat... and what's the deal with the paper dispenser being located two feet away and behind the customer. A midget reaching for the paper is likely to fall off the seat. After fifteen minutes the doors would pop open to reveal a pantless midget. this thing was devised by diaper wearing designers.

Martha

The New Yorker this week covers this topic.

Go to: www.nyrestroom.com

for a listing of free pee stops and linked to Google maps.

Here's the whole story:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/060327ta_talk_seabrook

Hugomania

I hope NYC doesn't install one of their brand new 400 or so cameras in these things...

SalMineo

I can't wait to figure out how to jimmy the doors shut when people are in there (stacking voice and NY Press boxes in front of the door?). A $200 bounty to the first picture of a tourist soaked and rescued by the NYPD after a "horrid ordeal" of being trapped in a public bathroom for two hours.

m

for anyone interested, these are on display at the Brooklyn Army Terminal on 58th st and 1st ave. they built them last month, and have subsequently had photo crews and city officials down here checking them out. they are currently wrapped in blue tarps, but the toilets are part of a larger display that includes a newspaper stand and two bus stops. the newsstands are metal of some type, the bus stops are clear (plexiglass maybe) with room for ads on 3 sides.

your sister's gay boyfriend

I use the Office Depot toilets in a pinch. Though they're a little too open to the public for my taste, and they never have any TP.

Dave H.

There is one in Herald Square that doesn't open 'til you put in your $.50 and supposedly spray cleans after use. Greater adoption of these facilities was nixed a few years ago when the handicapped lobby objected to the lack of universal access, which would make each unit too large for widespread use. I do find that a NYSC membership is a useful way of having bathrooms available around the city. Useful but fiscally wasteful however.

tien

toby, i once used my new york sports club membership in similar fashion. that was perhaps the best feature of the membership.

your sister's gay boyfriend

drunkard - if these self-cleaners are like the ones in London, you have to pay to open the door. And the 15-minute limit and the self-spraying will keep all but the desperate junkies and vagrants out. Then again, what junky or vagrant isn't desperate?

DrunkAtNYU

so wait when no one is in it the door is open? screw paying i'll just go in there to take a leak for free without closing the door. Many people will also go in to shoot up drugs and have sex i imagine as it looks quite spacious, but i hope they drop the 25 cents.

And I really don't think 20 is enough for a city as large as nyc

sp

theres one on the north side of Bryant Park, which sometimes has a line outside that rivals the line for Summer Stage or Shakespeare inthe Park...

Papercutninja

Isn't there still an existing public toilet in Herald Square? I could SWEAR i used one there a few years back when i worked in that area. It shot hot water all over the walls and floors after each use and had a big digital clock counting down your remaining time. Not too bad for 50 cents. I know there used to be one down near City Hall, but that's disappeared.

Leo

I am so glad they are going to finally do it in this city. It's just ridiculous that one can't find a public restroom on the street.

Toby

I have used these self cleaning loos in London and they are not bad.

Now I am a NYC Transit Museum member which is quite nice, as it means I can go use a nice clean bathroom in Downtown Brooklyn. I am sure other people just museum memberships in the same way, too.

woozies

These are going to be near parks? I guarantee everyone who tries to use these things will be appalled by the smells and sights of used drugs and drug paraphenalia. I'm ashamed thats the first thing I thought of. oh well.