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Transparent toilets - your worst nightmare?

(57 Posts)
MawB2 Tue 18-Aug-20 08:43:00

From today’s Guardian

It sounds like the worst kind of anxiety dream – a public toilet cubicle that appears to offer the promise of blessed relief, but which on closer inspection turns out to be entirely see-through.

That, though, is the design feature behind several toilets that recently opened in public parks in Tokyo.

The “transparent” toilets, created by the Pritzker prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban and more than a dozen other leading designers, are made from coloured “smart glass” that turns opaque when the cubicles are occupied.

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The conveniences opened this month in five locations in the capital’s Shibuya neighbourhood as part of the Tokyo Toilet Project, organised by the nonprofit Nippon Foundation.

Novelty aside, the foundation said there were important practical considerations behind the unusual toilets, which it likened to a “curious piece of playground equipment”.

“There are two concerns with public toilets, especially those located in parks,” it said. “The first is whether it is clean inside, and the second is that no one is secretly waiting inside.”

Using new technology, the foundation said the cubicles’ glass outer walls turn opaque after the door is locked, allowing prospective users to survey the interior before spending a penny.

“At night they light up the parks like a beautiful lantern,” it added.

Japan’s hi-tech WCs have long been the subject of fascination among visitors to the country.

I think I’ll give them a miss!

HiPpyChick57 Tue 18-Aug-20 12:10:55

Touring the USSR as it was then in the 80s as part of a girl’s choir. We gave a concert in a college.
We badly needed the toilet before we went on as we had been travelling for hours.
On entering the room where it was situated the actual toilet door was made from clear glass.
You can imagine us all trying to cover the door with our cardigans and jackets shielding each other from view as we all “went”

pollyperkins Tue 18-Aug-20 12:26:04

Like Linanna I often have dreams where I am desperate but the only loo is in a very public place like a restaurant with no door but I still have tp use it! Then I wake up and find I still need to go.
I wouldn't be comfortable using the loo in a glass cubicle. I don’t even like using one that opens directly into a public place in case the door doesn’t lock properly. Like one at a school I taught at which opened directly into a busy corridor.

CarlyD7 Tue 18-Aug-20 12:35:01

Sorry but i don't have that much faith in technology, so I certainly couldn't relax to "go" in such a toilet. Interestingly, it was designed by a man. Firstly, I think that men would be more relaxed about using them as they are more used to "going" publicly (i.e. .using urinals) and secondly, I do wonder if a woman, who had experienced the need to change sanitary protection whilst in a toilet would have designed the same?

MayBee70 Tue 18-Aug-20 12:45:44

It’s a bit like those Tardis type toilets that you had to put money in and they automatically open. I’ve very rarely used one being convinced that they will just open while I’m.....

Petera Tue 18-Aug-20 12:47:56

I've been in one of these in a cafe in Brussels. It was, naturally, an odd feeling when you went in but it worked perfectly.

JaneRn Tue 18-Aug-20 12:50:02

Having a bath tub actually in the bedroom is bad enough, but I saw somewhere that one hotel chain are taking it further by having the loo also in the room, both with nothing to conceal them. Just the place for a romantic weekend!

MayBee70 Tue 18-Aug-20 12:56:37

Can anyone understand the fashion for having bath tubs in bedrooms? It’s beyond me.

SueDonim Tue 18-Aug-20 13:04:40

That’ll be a nope!

I’ve stayed in two hotels with glass-walled en-suites. One kind of lit up when occupied (you could choose the colour you wanted confused) but you could still definitely see that someone as in there.

The other bathroom had an opaque strip around the mid section area but it was clear at the top and lower levels. We were on holiday with my dd and her friend so I made them have that room while we had the more conventional room. grin

Purplepoppies Tue 18-Aug-20 13:30:55

@Marjgran, please be very careful when using a nettle patch.... I speak from painful experience ?? one very cold night on the way home from a pub (many moons ago) I nipped in a field that was frosty. When I got home and started to warm up I realised I had stung myself where nobody wants to be stung ?.
Not a pleasant experience!!
I would be concerned the glass wouldn't turn opaque quickly enough once I was inside. How would you know?
The public toilets in my town are really not pleasant. If and when I decide to venture out again I will continue to use the toilets in shops.

knspol Tue 18-Aug-20 13:37:32

Have come across bathrooms in the middle of hotel rooms in China with the same glass. Still made my husband sit and face the corner while I used the loo, very off putting.

grannyqueenie Tue 18-Aug-20 13:42:40

Maw that’s the stuff of nightmares! ?

Gma29 Tue 18-Aug-20 14:36:33

I’ve now learnt to carefully check the bathroom set up in a hotel, after inadvertently booking one with a very open plan set up. That was bad enough with the DH.....

As for using a public loo where ‘only’ your silhouette shows - absolutely not!

Thecatshatontgemat Tue 18-Aug-20 15:10:49

Lordy.
A toilet is the one place l want total privacy.
No glass, automation, coloured lights or whatever.
Just a solid full length door with a good bolt on it.
And fir once in my life, l would like a clean loo that actually has toilet paper ready to hand.

kentmaid Tue 18-Aug-20 15:15:48

Many years ago, we visited my DD living in a student shared house.
I was in a hurry to visit the loo (it had been a long journey) dived in and sat quickly. Then I realised lights had come on and there was an uncurtained window onto a public pathway.
Yikes
No, it was OK.
It was a very clever and realistically 3D painted wall. The loo was completely surrounded by other rooms so no windows with is why the lights came on automatically.
Still took some time getting used to it though. Glad when she moved.

SueDonim Tue 18-Aug-20 15:19:55

Kentmaid that reminds me of when we moved into this house. The main bathroom was decorated with a gigantic mural of a railway with Noddy & Big Ears, and sundry creatures as passengers.

One of the first things I did was send my Dh out to buy a large pot of magnolia emulsion paint to decorate over it, because being watched at my toilette by those characters was the stuff of nightmares! ? ? ?

Spangler Tue 18-Aug-20 15:30:31

Have none of you, especially Londoners, ever heard of The Cellar Door, in the Aldwych district of Central London? www.cellardoor.biz/ They boast the sexiest toilets in London.

It used to be a subterranean gents toilets and was converted to a bar & lounge about twenty odd years ago. One wall is made up of a clever mix of mirrors to give the place the impression of a larger dimension.

They really do have some rocking good nights in there and as for those sexy toilets: There are just two unisex cubicles, both have clear view glass doors, lock the door and the glass goes opaque. I have to admit it is freaky the first time you use them, but they have become quite famous, or is that infamous?

cupcake1 Tue 18-Aug-20 15:36:55

My initial reaction is a definite no but I guess it depends on how desperate you are !blush

Marmight Tue 18-Aug-20 15:50:29

A friend’s daughter went into one of these whacky loos in a restaurant in London some few years ago. Apparently when the light goes on the glass becomes opaque She didn’t realise this and turned it off thinking no one would see her. Much amusement & tittering apparently as she exited grin
I would have to find alternative facilities! I won’t use those all singing all dancing all self washing loos since DD told me the door opens automatically after a certain time spent within shock. Nor do I use train loos. The door is too far away to stick your foot against it grin

jocork Tue 18-Aug-20 16:09:35

I don't use trains much but as DD lives in Glasgow and I just outside London I have done that journey a few times. I get very nervous of the curved sliding doors as it is quite difficult to be sure you have locked them securely. Thankfully no embarassing mishaps yet but seen others get it wrong!

AGAA4 Tue 18-Aug-20 16:25:50

Complete privacy needed for me in public toilets. I wouldn't trust any of the see through types. They could go wrong and stay see through.

Musicgirl Tue 18-Aug-20 18:20:09

I have always been very wary of those superloos as their doors can open at any moment. I find the idea of transparent glass even worse even if it does turn opaque while in use. I'm sure some sort of outline would still be visible. I know that oversharing is all too common these days but this takes things to a new level. It could only have been thought up by a man.

joysutty Tue 18-Aug-20 19:56:27

I have never heard of anything so ridiculous. What happens for instance if the "technology" fails - how embarrassing.

But many years ago I was on a toilet on the train and I ended up locked in as the door had jammed shut, and I was knocking for over 10 minutes to explain to someone and the guard who was checking peoples tickets came to the rescue, and from that moment on, i am afraid of locking any toilet door if is the type of lock that is not a manual one. Not only was it a frightening experience but I could have lost my stop in getting off the train. So can appreciate someone not liking lifts for the same reason if their lift had broken down, its a panic thing.

MayBee70 Tue 18-Aug-20 22:44:32

The first time I used one of those train toilets I didn’t lock the door: thankfully I only realised as I was leaving. And another time I put my coat in the sink not realising that it would automatically turn the water on. Went back to my seat with a wet coat.

EllanVannin Tue 18-Aug-20 22:50:55

How about what they're doing in Amsterdam ? Plant pots to pee in to save it being done in the streets. There must be arrangements of floral pots which surround the city/town specially equipped for said use. For men obviously.

Saetana Tue 18-Aug-20 22:59:18

Did anyone actually read this properly? The toilets become opaque once the door is locked!