I’m (almost) always a supporter of ideas that conserve energy or resources. Theoretically then, I’d be for this minimalist bathroom idea show below, made with a minimum of materials, it looks like something from IKEA.
Only one problem…the dual use design is just a wee bit problematic:
Yes that’s right, it’s the eco pee n’ wash urinal combo hand wash stand.
From “Yanko Design” who writes:
Whoa! Men To Pee and Wash In The Same Stand!
I’m not a man so I really don’t know how comfortable you guys are going to be with this thought…peeing and washing hands in the same urinal stand! What Designer Yeongwoo Kim has done is incorporated the wash basin just above the spot you take aim to pee. The reason cited is that you’ll save a water flush cycle, coz when you rinse your hand after the job (I hope you guys do that!), the same gray water can be used to cleanse the urinal basin. Tell me, how many of you guys will be comfortable with this? For once, my opinion doesn’t count, but I do find it funny!
Eco Urinal is an iF Concept Design 2010 winning entry!
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Well good for that, ew.
My question back is this: Since equality is important in our society today, please show me the water saving design for women’s restrooms.
Oh, no pee n’ wash design for that? Focus groups said Eww! ? Check.
I really don’t want to save water that much, and I really don’t think anyone else does either. Modern sanitation is one of mankind’s greatest health achievements. Let’s not mess with success. Plus, I don’t think the glass would survive long in a public restroom.
I think this is a FAIL blog candidate. Like George Costanza’s travel dilemma , faced with one of these on a road trip I wouldn’t go to the bathroom the entire trip.
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Minimalist Design Esthetic: A
Functional Design Esthetic: B – (Splatters on pants, shoes, and floor)
Psycological Design Esthetic: D – (Ewwwww!)
This looks like a urinal that the Red Dwarf android character Crighton would appreciate, after his nipple nuts were suitably tightened!
Crighton to Lister “Are you sure you want to go to Red Alert, Sir? I will have to change the lightbulb…..”
Mrsean2k says:
August 30, 2010 at 3:38 pm
“The big problem is behaviour; queues form at urinals, not at basins. Increasing the time spent at a urinal may encourage people to skimp on the essential washing up.”
I disagree, theses urinal reduce space requirements, which means more of these urinals can be put in. Also, people can just go wash their hands in the regular sinks if there is a big line – there will still be a need for some of them due to #2.
Ideally though the urinals and sinks would be on the opposite ends of a separator wall. The hand washing leftovers would gravity collect in a basin which would then be automatically distributed to auto-flush the toilets when guys are done.
If you know aerosols, you wouldn’t be washing your hands there. Too close!
It needs a soylent green dispenser. It’s high-energy plankton gathered from the oceans of the world.
Chris B said on August 30, 2010 at 4:14 pm:
Just about any guy could hit the sink, just involves having sufficient pressure and getting the trajectory right.
—————–
Regards sink-over-toilet designs:
Oh yeah, I see those all the time, cute one-piece units. On TV crime shows where they’re showing the inside of the prison cells. My, that stainless steel looks easy to keep clean.
😉
I think a lot of people here have got hold of the wrong end of the stick. This isn’t about saving water, it’s about saving materials. As in, it uses a hell of a lot less than a urinal&sink&associated-extra-plumbing. Make the thing out of marine ply instead of ceramics, metal and plastic, and the energy budget is a tiny fraction.
I’m not saying we necessarily need to go to that extreme, but it’s a very efficient use of materials.
On the other hand, I have a feeling it would splash more than a simple hole in the floor.
@ur momisugly Mac the Knife:
Can you imagine what Rimmer would think of this?
@ur momisugly thegoodlocust:
As long as you wait until you are done, that is exactly what will happen here.
Hey, while we’re at it, why don’t we put a drinking fountain in the thing too.
@ur momisugly kadaka (KD Knoebel):
Just about any guy could hit the sink, just involves having sufficient pressure and getting the trajectory right.
If the hose is short or the pump is weak, stand close to the pisser or piss on your feet.
With the death of AGW on the horizon, one of the “crises” in waiting is water shortages. By refusing to define how much water is needed for stream biological function (the current standard is to estimate optimum requirements), the enviros have strategically positioned the debate around the concept that “any” water for out of stream uses (i.e. hand washing, irrigation, etc.) is causing/contributing to the decline of aquatic species.
Expect to read such silliness soon such as “water is becoming scarcer” (as if all the laws of physics have been suspended), or “irrigation is killing the planet”. I suspect at least a small part of the appeal of this type of hype is that they hope we will all soon smell as bad as the greens.
Man, the comments are fast tonight. On that note, the moderators here are awesome and if we were in the same area code, I’d buy you all a beer or coffee or whatever you drink.
@Tom 7:10 pm:
Hey, while we’re at it, why don’t we put a drinking fountain in the thing too.
And somewhere for a toothbrush?
One deficiency of modern toilets is that you can’t practice your balancing skills while being part of the carbon/nitrogen cycle. Not having running water at our yurt, my wife got a couple of 5 gallon pickle buckets from the sandwich shop near ou primary home and uses them with “The Luggable Loo” toilet seats, http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?cmView=full&type=pod&id=0009518
Once you get past the realization that things are a bit tippy, it works pretty well!
I recall a bar out of a small town on the east coast of OzLand where the entire front of the bar was “dedicated to recycling the beer”
This reminds me of the recent observation that the government wants to outlaw shower heads that work around the 2.5 gal/min law. The key idea was that there are large parts of the country that have no water shortage (in Iowa City it comes from sandpoint wells near the river that can never fail = no shortage. So, why would we have to pretend that there is a shortage because there is in some other place. We are not about to ship it to them.
As a male I want to spend as little time as possible standing next to another man while he is going – no offense guys. Why would I want to stand there and wash my hands? Put the sinks elsewhere, please.
Videodrone: Shelias too?
If it’s all the way to the floor it blocks what would otherwise be a toe space and the ability to get closer and avoid floor splatter. This design would be a mess maker for the floor.
It would be better if the bottom were off the floor 12 inches and with separation panels between urinals to promote private and comfortable use. Both with piddling and washing. Anf the glass would be a perpetually filthy thing.
If your urine is blue and intermittent you should probably see a doctor.
Also why can’t they just plumb the water from a multiple tap basin to a separate long urinal? At the toilets at my work they could install a 1 meter pipe and get the same effect.
Geez – I would like to know how the little man in the figure pees with no arms?
:0)
From: Dave on August 30, 2010 at 7:05 pm
Did you ever see the “toilets” in the Guantanamo Bay cells? Two spots, place your feet there, then squat over the hole… They are stainless steel, of course.
Anyone know if that style of toilet is (normally?) found elsewhere in the world?
As far as weird “waste disposal” units go, I just Googled this interesting gallery…
Kadaka.
All over Europe (more so in the south) and Asia. Actually very clean, not that my knees could take it any more.
It is not the men’s restroom that generally have the queuing problem.
I believe this design concepts fails many of the basic rules regarding Urinal etiquette…
http://drinknation.com/fun/urinaltest
Christopher says:
August 30, 2010 at 3:34 pm
okay, game over, epic fail. (for this idea)
But, (and I’m okay with conservation…. to save money, to extend diminishing resources, to save the cost of infrastructure)….. but, uh, isn’t the planet covered with water? Isn’t this a resource management issue? Okay, maybe use them in Arizona! ?
Why is it man became the hunter and could throw a spear into a beast several yards away but can’t hit the broad side of a barn when peeing? These things are WAYYYY to narrow for any man I’ve cleaned up after.