Public toilets, especially in the Indian context are often looked upon as unhygienic and unsafe among the common people. Why do we have to put our bodies through an unsanitary experience of this sort every time we access a public toilet? While men and women, both face the issue of attending to an untidy and unhealthy toilet, what we often overlook is how much of a problem this is, particularly for women, senior citizens and the disabled. It is the stigma behind the use of a public toilet- that public toilets are to be used by the ‘public’ who do not have access to a clean toilet.
Keeping the above mentioned troubles women face in mind, a safe, aesthetically pleasing and inclusive public toilet is designed. My main focus in the project was to be inclusive to a gender-neutral toilet in a public space, while also keeping in mind the fear that comes with both genders in a common space. Therefore, I have designed an open area with internal segregations of the space, without having walls/ doors to define which gender prefers to use which half of the space. Using the concept of a central courtyard, the interiors have plants to eliminate odour and a central tree, around which seating is provided.
Another feature of the proposed public toilet is the inclusion of nursing rooms, for breastfeeding women, caregivers to children or adults as well as men who perform these duties.
