According to this Bloomsberg article, “in December, she opened a luxury ladies' room on Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping area. Use of the toilet and powder room at the facility costs 5 pounds ($10).”
Her boutique pissoir is apparently “helping to fill the gap left by a decline in public bathrooms in London. The number of toilets dropped 40 percent from 2000 to 2005, leaving 415 to serve a population of 7.5 million, government figures show. That's not including the 28 million people who visit the U.K. capital each year.”
But why is there a shortage? The article explains:
The shortage belies London's history as an exemplary provider of public toilets. Its first public lavatory was built in the 12th century at the site of what is now the Royal Bank of Canada's offices. During the Victorian era, public bathrooms multiplied, and often boasted mosaic tiling and copper pipes.
Such facilities have sometimes fallen afoul of new laws. The Disability Act, which came into force in 2004, requires that public toilets be accessible to wheelchair users or have suitable alternatives nearby. Rather than invest in ramps and elevators, some authorities have shut or sold older restrooms.
Furthermore, “a 53 percent increase in London house prices during the past five years has helped fuel the decline of the public toilet, as authorities sell valuable real estate to developers.”
Admittedly, we want to see a further decrease in public bathrooms in London and elsewhere, because as chronic public urinators ourselves, we like hearing stories and tips from tourists who have had to navigate in pain through unfamiliar locales looking for somewhere secluded enough to take a piss. Where might we, for instance, relieve ourselves around the Vatican on a late Tuesday night? At night, is it safer to do it in the park or the alleyway? Illicit cartographies to share with fellow travelers or collect for future editions of Lonely Planet City Guides.
As an experience of landscape as visceral as, say, seeking shelter during an earthquake or from an incoming tornado, public urination is at least worth investigating in a landscape architecture studio.
Urinating at the Eisenman
oh and schipol airport in amsterdam has caterpillars and mushrooms
Just wanted to add a comment to this topic that the Brits seem to have this problem in other parts of the world as well. As a Latvian, I came across the article below.
I wish you all the best and keep up the wonderful posts!
Caught on camera: Briton urinating by Latvia's holiest monument
By DPA
Mar 19, 2007, 12:15 GMT
Riga - A British tourist has been charged with hooliganism after urinating near Latvia's most revered monument while his friends photographed his performance, officials confirmed Monday.
The incident comes only days after the British Embassy in Riga launched a public-awareness campaign aimed at boosting 'responsible tourism' - including respect for local sensibilities.
The Briton, identified only as John, was detained early on Friday evening by the Freedom Monument in Riga - the memorial to all those who have sacrificed their lives in the cause of Latvian freedom, police spokeswoman Inese Timane told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Tests showed that John was severely drunk, with over five times the blood-alcohol level permitted to drive a car.
Local media reported that while John was answering the call of nature, his friends were busy photographing his activities - a fact which is likely to make prosecutors' job considerably easier.
Last November a British tourist was arrested for urinating directly on the Freedom Monument. He was prosecuted for a criminal offence, banned from leaving the country until the case was heard, and fined over 800 lats (1,512 dollars).
Since Latvia joined the EU in 2004, the number of Western tourists visiting the country has soared. However, with the boom has come a growing concern over rising numbers of alcohol-related offences perpetrated by foreigners.
Last Thursday the British Embassy in Riga launched a campaign aimed at boosting responsible behaviour among visitors to Latvia. One of the campaign's key pieces of advice was, 'Do not urinate in public. Use a toilet instead.'
� 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Ernestine
PS - Loved the photos in this entry. Very smart!
Please check 0300vd.com
Architecture videos from arround the world.
No sitting to pee.
-The Management
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