Cozy UPENN Cafeteria Toilet Offers Push-Button Help

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
14th Floor Cafeteria
Philadelphia, PA USA
med.upenn.edu

Where is it?

From the cafeteria, head to the elevator shaft and go on through, until you're in a cozy hallway beyond that. (It's filled with comfortable-looking chairs and a long stretch of windows that seems to take in the light pretty well.) Turn right when you reach that hallway. The toilets will be on your left, about 10 feet down.

What's it like?

These cozy surroundings offer visitors a tasteful place to make a pit stop. The walls are covered in beige wall paper, the floors are covered with off-white tile and metallic dividers separate the lone stall from the lone urinal. It's really quite comfortable and clean, making it perfect for longer visits (except during the lunch hour, when the cafeteria traffic is pretty high).

Given that it's really only got room for two, the place still manages to feel pretty spacious, if not a little old-fashioned (the result of the wallpaper). Thankfully, in this case, old-fashioned doesn't translate into old and weary. Most of the facilities here seem to shy away from technical advances we've seen at other bathrooms (including the disabled-persons-friendly facilities 10 floors below here). Paper towels are still cranked out manually, soap is dispensed via a wall-mounted pump, and the heater placed next to the commode (a nice touch, though a little antiquated) looks like it came from a 1970s student apartment.

Still, technology does rear its head around some. The toilets are all auto-flush, and the faucets are well-made automatic ones, releasing warm water instead of cold -- perfect for the cold winter day during which I made my visit.

While these qualities certainly make it sound like everything here is in tip top order, there were a few eccentric elements found that are worth noting. For one, the spare toilet paper roll for the stall was set on top of the paper towel dispenser, not in the stall itself. Naturally, this would make for a very awkward situation if the person in the stall ran out of paper and had to venture into the bathroom's lobby to restock.

Secondly, the same lobby has a large red button mounted to the wall of it, with a sign around the button reading "Press for Help." Now, I understand this is here to help disabled people who ventured in on their own and were unable to finish their business. Though really if the person needing help were in the stall he/she would have to go a long way to press the button, which made me question it's usefulness.

At the same time, being 14 floors above the ground (and with a great view of the city available to you just steps from the bathroom door), I took this little message as a call for something greater.... Perhaps it's all the Russian literature I've been reading lately?

Marks out of 10:

8. A nice bathroom through and through, and the eccentric touches actually had me thinking the toilet here was the equivalent of a traditional British B&B -- formal and cute, but with a bit of unique character to it.

Comments to the Management:

A very good bathroom that's well-maintained, except for that "Press for Help" button, which seems like it's in the wrong spot. Heck, if I'd backed away from the sink too quickly after washing my hands, I might even bump into it accidentally, and then think of the trouble I'd be in. Also, please store the spare toilet paper rolls in the stall -- this is a university, not a hot spot for public exposure enthusiasts.

UPENN Toilets Offer Many Options for Disabled and Non-Disable Persons Alike

Henry M. Watts Neuromuscular Disease Center
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
4th Floor
Philadelphia, PA USA
med.upenn.edu

Where is it?

The toilets are on the fourth floor of the building where the Neuromuscular Disease Center is. Follow the signs to the building and then head up via the elevator. The men's bathroom is right next to the elevator, beside the sign for the center (as shown above). The women's is to the right of the elevator shaft.

What's it like?

These are classic multi-person facilities in a public building. The design is pretty much standard for what you'll find inside any institution of higher learning. It's fully functional and clean but also a little sterile and run-of-the-mill. Then again, considering that it's at a medical research facility, you kind of expect that. This isn't Vegas, after all.

The walls are covered with beige tile and white grout -- both a bit worn but not so much to make them look like they're in need of replacement. The floor is covered with small dark brown tile and black grout -- a standard combination for public restrooms that we've seen used in many other places (it hides dirt and stains better), like Fresh Market Orlando or Total Wine Raleigh. Only here, they tile is a bit darker, better kept and cleaner.

(Apparently, the rule seems to be that if you're a store selling household items or foods, people will expect your bathrooms' floors to be clean and sparkling but in reality they will be brown and dingy and gross. On the flip side, if you're a location that services students -- who are supposed to be somewhat unkempt to begin with and generally speaking have better things to worry about than cleanliness -- you floors will be spotless and sanitary. Go figure.)

Feature-wise, the place offers everything in sets of threes: Three urinals, three stalls, and three sink-mirror stations. The catch here is that the third in each group is designed specifically for disabled persons.

The third urinal in its series, for example, pointed out from behind the beige divider separating it from its neighbor, allowing those with access issues a better chance at hitting the mark, so to speak. A similar concept was found in the sink, where the third sink of the series jetted out from the wall further than the rest. (Though, it should be said that the faucets were still along the back side -- something I see with handicapped toilets all over, and it makes me wonder if anyone in, say, a wheelchair ever has trouble reaching back to turn on the water. One would think it would be easier to to place the faucets in a location that makes them easier to grab? Just a thought.)

The commodes themselves broke away from the pattern described above in that the third stall was indeed roomier and granted greater access to handicapped persons, but in addition to this (which is usually as far as toilets like these go) it also offered a plastic booster seat placed atop the commode itself. The booster looked like it would make it easier for someone to sit and get up from the toilets themselves. Granted, the plastic booster also looked like it might not be too sanitary after a use or two -- I imagined, even after one use, it would look much like one of those portable compost toilets hikers take around with them (ick) so they can crap in the woods -- but on a per use basis it sure looked helpful.

Otherwise, this is a clean, relatively quiet bathroom that -- outside of its disabled features -- doesn't have anything very distinctive about it -- expect maybe the side-by-side paper towel dispensers, which looked rather futuristic, I thought.

Hmm... maybe this place is cooler than I first thought it was.

Marks out of 10:

8. Big ups for its disabled features, which are plentiful, well-planned and clean.

Comments to the Management:

A little decor might help. But then, outside of the people who work here and attend classes here, who would really visit the place? It's a lab bathroom -- so perhaps it doesn't really need much in terms of decor.

End-of-Terminal Toilets at PHL Airport Perhaps a Little Too Roomy

Philadelphia International Airport
Philadelphia, PA USA
www.phl.org

Where is it?

Beside Gate C28.

What's it like?

Gate C28 is at the end of the C terminal in PHL. Given that, and that these toilets accommodate only about three to four gates worth of people at most, you'd expect the bathrooms here to be a little small.

That isn't the case. These are somewhat sprawling facilities offering passing travelers plenty of chances to stretch out after suffering through the tight quarters of an airplane. I'm sure they get busy now and then, but on my visit I found them practically empty and very welcoming.

The bathroom here comes split into two distinct sections, one for toilet stalls and one for urinals; each area features a somewhat vast "lobby" area between the actual toilet and the sink stations, which occupy the center island here and serve as the divider between the two areas.

The toilet stalls, maybe 10 in all, line the entire back wall of the place and are roomy enough to get your business done in, but the commodes themselves sit a little too lowly to the ground for my taste -- makes it hard to get up after a long sit, if you will. Also, although they sit far from the main entrance to the bathroom, there is still little feeling of isolation felt inside, due mostly to the "lobby" area in front of them, which carries the sounds made by the people at the sink stations a little too well.

The urinals, maybe seven total, sit in the back right corner of the place and are lined up on the same wall as the entrance door and a baby-changing station. No, no one can peak in while you're piddling, but still the sensation of someone possibly having the chance to do so is certainly there. Adding a door to the entrance would easily solve these paranoid delusions.

Otherwise, it's a very clean place, easily on par with the other airports we've visited recently. The sinks are all metallic and shiny and configured with automatic faucets and soap dispensers. Toilets, with automatic flush, were all in tip-top shape and sparkling clean.

Marks out of 10:

7. I like the spaciousness but would prefer the place not carry sound so efficiently because of it.

Comments to the Management:

A door, instead of an open entrance, would be nice. I would also suggest adding a way to absorb that extra sound there, but I'm not sure what can be done without resurfacing the walls, which would be very expensive and burdensome, so....

Dulles Toilets Display Solid Use of Reflection

Dulles International Airport
1 Aviation Circle
Washington, DC USA
www.metwashairports.com/dulles

Where is it?

By Gate B28. The toilets are just beyond it, heading towards the higher-numbered gates.

What's it like?

Airport bathrooms can be hit or miss, especially at larger facilities like this one. I went in thinking it might be similar to some rest areas I'd visited recently -- smelly, a bit grimy, but functional overall. Thankfully, this Dulles spot topped all expectations. Clean, virtually no smell and perfectly serviceable.

This is a slim area, with a design that knows how to make its space very functional -- you'll see very little wasted space here. Along the left wall, you'll find a string of urinals, separated by shiny metallic dividers, and then a collection of four or five commode stalls, also separated by metallic walls. (Notice a theme here?) Across from the urinals, set into the wall some so as to amplify the space allotted for walking around, is a vanity area with four sink stations, each with automatic water faucets and automatic soap dispensers. The hand driers and towels hang on the wall to each side of the vanity.

Atmosphere-wise: It's a bit dim here in terms of lighting, but because of the many bits of shiny metal somehow the place seems brighter than it is -- an effect that seems due entirely to the reflection of light off those metallic dividers. Of course, that doesn't mean it's blindingly bright here, but still it's bright enough to keep the place from seeming murky. The only exception to this is the back stall, which is considerably darker compared to the rest of the place.

Also, there is no door to the bathroom here. Rather, people enter via a small hallway and head left or right, depending on their sex. As a result, visitors can hear a good deal of the walking traffic noise from outside. (Clearly, the designers here haven't perfected the Wynn's technique on this.) Still, once you've locked yourself in one of those dimly lit stalls to do your business, you don't feel very rushed at all. So they've got to be doing something right here, right?

Note: Sorry for the slightly blurry images here -- ever since the security measures at U.S. airports got more serious, I get nervous taking pictures there. So nearly all the shots here were taken with one eye on the camera and one eye on the door. (I don't want to be covering toilet conditions inside a jail.)

Marks out of 10:

8. A decent airport toilet that surprises you here and there with its simple design flourishes.

Comments to the Management:

An actual entrance door would be nice, but I could see how it might go against the overall design of the place. Airport toilets are for quick ins and outs, not long visits, and I understand this, but still one can hope...... Otherwise, consider adding (or better yet, reflecting) some more light on those stalls, just so the people using them can see a little better.

Shiny, Brand-New Penny Found on Floor of Hershey's Ice Cream Bathroom

Hershey's Ice Cream
6437 S. Chickasaw Trail
Orlando, FL USA
www.hersheyicecream.com

Where is it?

This is a long place, so from the main entrance walk to the rear of the establishment, past the order counter and ice cream coolers, until you reach the very back corner of it (past the storage area and semi-open kitchen). The bathrooms are there, in a little enclave.

What's it like?

This modest little storefront, located inside a strip mall surrounding a neighborhood Publix, is a typical local's joint. Modest, clean interior, friendly staff, unpretentious -- essentially, a very warm place to stop for a snack or some ice cream after spending your money at the nearby Publix. The menu consists of standard fast food fare -- Chicago-style hot dogs, chicken fingers, french fries, etc -- as well as some terrific ice cream dishes. The ice cream, by far, is the main attraction here -- it's terrific, real ice cream, stuff that people up north who grew up with dairy farms will appreciate (sorry, but the Floridian affinity for soft serve with added flavorings just ain't the same!). The food, on the other hand, isn't anything special -- a decent standby if you're in the neighborhood and want something quick and cheap -- but there are far better hot dog joints and fried food palaces in the Orlando area. Still, if you're in the area and feel the need to nosh......

Like the restaurant it's located in, the toilet here is modest, clean and cozy and modest. It accommodates only one person at a time, either sex, and because the restaurant itself tends to be quiet most of the time, the toilet here actually makes for a great place to stop for a longer visit, if need be. Much better than the noisy Publix nearby.

Plus, the interior has a few design flourishes you might not expect from such a little place (and thinking it over, I wonder if the owners here took a few notes from Tacos El Rancho): The floor is covered in a somewhat elegant rust-colored tile and the walls are painted green. It's a combination that you think wouldn't work, but when it's coupled with the dim lighting of the environment, they somehow work, creating a sort of Creole-inspired atmosphere, believe it or not. Fixtures are your standard white porcelain models, but they are clean and comfortable.

On top of this, I found a shiny, brand new penny sitting at the base of the toilet. Not sure if it was accidentally dropped there, or if it was left by a prankish visitor who wanted someone to get his or her hands filthy while getting it (yes, we all know the trick with the quarter left inside the urinal water, right?), but still it was there, and though I didn't pick it up, it looked clean and ready to find its way into someone's pocket.

Marks out of 10:

8. A cozy, unpretentious little environment found in a cozy, unpretentious little neighborhood joint.

Comments to the Management:

Consider dropping quarters or half-dollar coins on the ground, and I'll think more seriously about picking them up. Otherwise, keep up the good work!