Artwork

2018

Throughout studios past, the bathroom facilities amongst the various schemes have all been considered an afterthought which evidently leads to a culture of ticking boxes regarding their overall design in the future. Whilst this may be the present case, it doesn’t have to continue. Societies and cultures are changing, albeit slowly, and are starting to address the concerns of humanity’s spectrum of gender and sexuality. Whilst designers around the world have been acknowledging this in explorations of adult sex toys for example, the architecture world seems to be dragging its feet. A simple method for incorporating these social ideals into any architectural scheme is to provide a safe space for individuals to comfortably use the bathroom.

 

It is at this point where the speculation lands itself. Is it possible to design an ideal gender-neutral bathroom that is safe and accessible for all? Rather than look at the room at face value, the speculation breaks the public bathroom into 6 understood activities for which they are used and proposes explorations in how to design for each one; for normal bodily functions (a place to piss and a place to poop) and for fixing yourself (a place to refresh and a place to style). A place for good intentions looks at spaces that are positive, their able to support mothers and children and they provide spaces for friends to hang out and wait. A place for bad intentions subverts this as it looks at spaces that can allow for the safe usage of illicit substances and providing safe spaces for cruising couples to use. Through these explorations, common threads began to emerge which inevitably lead to a suggestion of just what exactly an ideal gender-neutral bathroom could potentially look like.

 

Adjoining this is an installation piece that runs along the ground curated as a taxonomy of broken shards. The installation acts as literal commentary on the position that the speculation and proposition both take, that the gender binary bathroom split should no longer be used in the design of public facilities. Initially, the donated toilet pan was drawn on with several designs of bathrooms from the across the buildings located at the University of South Australia’s City West campus which all encompass the split bathroom. The words, all different terms for engendering the spaces, were written on the empty spaces in corresponding colours as a slight nod to graffiti culture but also emphasise the toilet pan, an ambiguous object, as what carries the gender binary identity. Through smashing this then, the plans of the various spaces are broken up and no longer show any logic. This blurring of the spaces potentially revels the apprehensions that certain people have about gender-neutral bathrooms however also revels the openness that architects and designers have when considering these spaces.

 

Along with the installation, a small document was put together to communicate the intent of my personal brief for the following studio assignment; setting up the framework for A House for Tom. For further commentary on bathroom design, the document was collaged onto a printout of the Building Code of Australia requirements for public bathrooms with sections covered in white-out correction fluid.