Maybe fashion is an antidote to knowledge. It seems not to follow functionality or experience, not even the logic of swarm intelligence. It breaks free from the constraints of predictability and user research and is as much breaking the rules as it is establishing new conformism. Change can be as creative as it is annoying. At least if all you want to do is take a dump.
It seems that all around the world automatic flushing has become the norm. The almost totemic desire for not having to touch anything in a public bathroom contrasts fascinatingly with the fine inverse shower of questionable liquid that the standard mechanism all but guarantees. Human rights have been refused and criticised as Western imperialism, but without question from Manila to Maracana the infrared sensor for the flushing mechanism is placed a bit more than 1m above the ground directly behind the victim. Given how universal the use of toilets is to humanity, it is quite fascinating that we have not figured that one out. Every session essentially becomes a game of trying not to move, or of draining the world’s water supply as much as possible.
Yet the toilets are only one curious thing in our still new and shiny university bathrooms. The other is the rectangles. Retangular sinks, rectangular pissoirs. A nicely consistent form language, creating the clinical and clean feel of a hotel. Only that it isn’t clean at all. The reason why pissoirs are usually triangular becomes manifest as a yellow stalagmite in its infancy, creating a stark contrast with the fashionably dark floors. Likewise there was wisdom in making sinks bowl-shaped, unless the idea is to create a biotope of old soap, algae and the occasional food item growing strong on the plain surface.
But only the old and boring scorn such developments as a form of regression. Everyone else is free to enjoy end embrace them as a canvas for new ideas. For nothing is as good as functional shortcomings to spark ground-breaking improvements. Therefore I can hardly wait to see the next iteration of interior design principles.
