This is a great idea for a series: the public restrooms of Chicago, St. Louis, etc. I'm on it. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.) Gonna be white balance hell but worth the effort.
The most scrupulously clean, modern and intolerable restrooms I know of are in the new Seattle Public library. The last time I was there, the mens' room was a radioactive, bilious yellow-green, lit by the most intense bluish fluorescent lighting you could imagine. Friends told me they were all like that and the reason was to discourage homeless people from hanging out in them. I can't verify that, but it would be a rather extreme example of form follows function. Mies would be horrified.
Oh, there should be a website listing the clean toilets in every city! I simply won't use them if they're nasty, which makes for some unhappy times.
One of the nicest looking toilets I've seen in my limited travels are at the Sackler gallery in DC. The one I liked best would be the one in the rest-stop in the terribly named "Heidiland" area in Switzerland. There they have Villeroy&Boch basins and foot operated faucets (AFAIR -- it was a long time ago so I could be mistaken), plus nice music. Catch is that you have to pay 1 Swiss franc (about 75 cents) to use it, and you get a coupon for that value that you can use towards a coffee or whatever at any branch of their related restaurant chain. I just redeemed one from 15 months ago, but it's not so nice for tourists who are in CH for just a day or two. But, the facilities are indeed well tended.
It's always nice to find a clean and empty restroom. It had to be empty for me to take its picture anyway. Its nicely lit, too. On Grand and Congress.
This is a great idea for a series: the public restrooms of Chicago, St. Louis, etc. I'm on it. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.) Gonna be white balance hell but worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteThe most scrupulously clean, modern and intolerable restrooms I know of are in the new Seattle Public library. The last time I was there, the mens' room was a radioactive, bilious yellow-green, lit by the most intense bluish fluorescent lighting you could imagine. Friends told me they were all like that and the reason was to discourage homeless people from hanging out in them. I can't verify that, but it would be a rather extreme example of form follows function. Mies would be horrified.
Bob
Nice. Clean and neat.
ReplyDeleteAbraham Lincoln
—Me as Moses—
Me too I love to catch photo when "I meet" clean a nice toilet. The best of the best I saw was at Changi airport in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteOh, there should be a website listing the clean toilets in every city! I simply won't use them if they're nasty, which makes for some unhappy times.
ReplyDeleteOne of the nicest looking toilets I've seen in my limited travels are at the Sackler gallery in DC. The one I liked best would be the one in the rest-stop in the terribly named "Heidiland" area in Switzerland. There they have Villeroy&Boch basins and foot operated faucets (AFAIR -- it was a long time ago so I could be mistaken), plus nice music. Catch is that you have to pay 1 Swiss franc (about 75 cents) to use it, and you get a coupon for that value that you can use towards a coffee or whatever at any branch of their related restaurant chain. I just redeemed one from 15 months ago, but it's not so nice for tourists who are in CH for just a day or two. But, the facilities are indeed well tended.