thoughtcrumbs

Bathroom innovations

A couple of marginally-related design issues for public restrooms Katie was telling me about:

• In Molalla, Oregon, the BLM was having a vandalism problem: people were firing rounds into the bathroom walls. To counter this, they put an American flag on the building. (I'd envisioned a painting covering the full side, but this page shows it's just a flag plaque.)
  
  
• Restaurants, hostels, and grocery stores worldwide are mounting blue lights in restrooms to prevent intravenous drug users from seeing their veins. Though ostensibly ingenious, it can be easily counteracted by drawing on veins with a marker before entering the bathroom, and the lights may pose significant problems (pdf) for other users.