When you gotta go, you gotta go… Public Restroom Design

Image by Ovidiu Timplaru, via vecteezy.com

 
When you gotta go, you gotta go… Public Restroom Design

by Sweiskloss
October 16, 2025
Commuters to Santa Monica can now enjoy the royal treatment. Throne Labs’ recently installed a high tech and eco-friendly public restroom at the Downtown Santa Monica Metro Station. ADA compliant, Throne toilets are designed to serve a wide range of people from providing a baby changing station to offering complimentary menstrual products, with hands-free operations for most functions. To access the free restrooms, users scan a QR code and then have 10 minutes to do their business.

Off grid or in a bustling metropolis, these public restrooms around the globe are redefining the idea of the port-a-potty.

Minturn Mining Toilet, Minturn, Colorado
Designed to resemble the entrance to an old Colorado mine, Minturn’s public restrooms reflect the rich mining history of this small Colorado town. Made from 320 wooden pieces and fabricated using 3D printing technology, the interior features copper-colored walls and steel butterflies on the ceiling.

Kumutoto Toilets, Wellington, New Zealand
Nicknamed the “lobster loos,” these genderless and accessible public restrooms located on Queens Wharf in the Kumutoto precinct of Wellington, NZ, look like something right out of the sea. Suggestive of crustaceans or sea creatures they feature “red-colored steel shells.. over concentric concrete rings… each ending in a cantilevered tail with a louvered window that provides ventilation” (matadornetwork.com).

Uredd Rest Area, Ureddplassen, Gildeskal, Norway
One of the best places to observe the Northern Lights, view the fjord and gaze upon the Norwegian ocean, the Uredd Rest Area is located along Norway’s National Scenic Road Helgelandskysten and includes terraced viewing benches and an amphitheater leading down to the beach. The minimalist design of the bathroom is made of frosted glass and concrete. It seems to glow in the dark as the glass is lit at night, while “in the daytime, the facility offers.. the most breathtaking views you could hope to enjoy while relieving yourself” (atlasobscura.com). Named after the “Uredd” submarine that sank, it also commemorates World War II with a memorial sculpture.

Haru-No-Ogawa Community Park Toilet, Tokyo, Japan
When Shigeru Ban Architects designed the public toilets in the community park, they wanted to address two concerns that users faced in public restrooms: is it clean and is it occupied? They resolved these issues by creating an exterior wall of glass that becomes opaque or frosted when locked. This allows users to view the cleanliness even before entering and can see if it is occupied. At night the restroom “lights up the park like a beautiful lantern” (tokyotoilet.jp).

Old Town Public Toilets, Gdansk, Poland
Shaped like a drop of water, the public toilet in the city of Gdansk balances a modern architectural design and practical functionality with the heritage of the city. The refabricated cylindrical forms bulge out at the bottom making it accessible to wheelchair users. A transparent glass roof provides natural sunlight. The rusted patina blends with the surrounding tenement rooftops and suggests the ship hulls of the neighboring shipyards. A multifunctional piece of city “furniture,” the steel ribs are also used as a bike rack.
Other notable must “pee” public restrooms include: a tiny house-shaped toilet with white picket fence, and a hemispherical voice activated contactless “Hi Toilet,” both in Tokyo; mirrored restrooms that reflect the surrounding hills in Switzerland; and a stone structure that mimics the steep mountains with floor to ceiling windows that offer views of the rushing stream and waterfall along the Norwegian Scenic Route.
 
Laura McMahon