Cause & Effect: Infectious Disease and Bathroom Design Evolution
Have you read the article from Citylab yet on the future of bathrooms? It discusses how all the 20-second hand washing that we have been doing lately due to COVID-19 may impact our views on public sanitation and safety going forward.
In the last 100 years, the world has seen a dramatic change in our focus on health and hygiene - specifically around bathrooms. Their evolution primarily stems from the need to help stop the spread of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and influenza. For example, wood used to be a popular material for bathrooms but were soon replaced in favor of open plumbing fixtures which proved to be more sanitary and easier to clean. Wood floors were torn out and replaced with the easy-to-maintain linoleum. Bathtubs went a similar way, with enamel-coated cast iron proving far easier to clean and much more durable. Even wallpaper was edited out of bathroom design as people chose to opt for sterile-looking white walls instead. Finishes weren’t the only things that affected as well - fittings such as soap dishes, toothbrush and cup holders, and towel bars became popular additions in bathrooms, as they added to the overall feeling of cleanliness.
Fast forward to modern day - how will bathroom architecture evolve once we start living in a post-coronavirus world? Perhaps a glance into how far it has come can give us some perspective on what the future holds, such as this great article on the evolution of bathrooms from Citylab.
While the article focused on residential bathrooms, we also believe corporate and other public restrooms will be impacted. Designs will need to focus on materials that are easy to clean and sanitize, with added daylight to help kill germs. Use of touch-less faucets and soap/hand sanitizer dispensers will most likely increase. The size in general will most likely be impacted as well, with private stalls becoming more popular, perhaps with added height and overlapping seams to help prevent possible transmission when distance isn’t possible.