...to have your
logo design
publicly reviled

WITH LONDON 2012, WE WEREN’T TRYING TO create something pretty. We were trying to create something that made you sit up and take a breath. The brief was for people to think about the Olympics afresh. This isn’t the skyline of a city where the Olympics are going to be held. It was never going to be a picture of someone vaulting Tower Bridge. It’s intentionally raw; it doesn’t sit there and asked to be liked. We knew the work was going to invite comment

because we were purposefully not following precedent. But we’re very proud of it. We’ve answered the brief terribly well and we’ve produced something that is unique in this world. What did surprise me was seeing photographers when I was taking my kids to school. That’s a strange thing to happen for somebody working in the communications industry. — Patrick Cox, creative director, Wolff Olins; quotes compiled from Design Week and The Observer

 

I FELT DREAD AS I APPROACHED THE BOX Y frosted-glass and metal facility on the edge of upwardly trendy Madison Square Park. It wasn’t fear of the serviceable Nicholas Grim-shaw–designed structure but of peeing in public places. Could good design help me overcome bathroom angst? After depositing a quarter, I relaxed as the beeping automatic door slowly slid shut, ensuring privacy. Inside the large room is a wobbly rubberized floor, an imposing seatless metal toilet, and color-coded buttons for flushing, dispensing toilet paper, and apparently calling FEMA should something go awry in this fully automated outhouse. Still, advanced technology and a $100,000 price tag couldn’t guarantee

the foolproof removal of a paper seat cover (it ripped in half) or a dry throne (the post-use washing mechanism splashes water everywhere). So imagine a damp and cold metal seat on which to sit. At least, I had to imagine it, since my experiment was relegated to a standing visit. That went off without a hitch. And the sensor-activated sink, which shoots simultaneous streams of comforting warm water, soap, and hot air, was a delight. Hitting the button to open the door (lingerers beware: there’s a 15-minute time limit), I realized that, despite some kinks, this contemporary port-o-potty beats a dirty trough any day as well as inhibiting Larry Craig–esque stall shenanigans. What a relief. — Ernest Beck, freelance writer

...to go to
the bathroom at
BP Helios House

...to use New York City’s first permanent automatic public toilet

A GAS STATION BATHROOM— THAT GRIMY purgatory looming on the horizon of every road trip—is usually a place to be avoided. Not so for the bathrooms at Helios House, the “little better” gas station at the corner of Robertson and Olympic in Los Angeles, where the environmentally sensitive have been making pilgrimages just to use the facilities ever since it opened last year. Sure, my perch on a 60 percent post-industrial recycled aluminum toilet with dual-vol-ume flush panels is pleasant enough, but it’s not the sexy sustainability of the space that strikes me, it’s the fact that this bathroom has serious potential. That pedestal sink in the middle of the room, with its shaved re-cycled-aluminum patina, would double as an excellent wet bar; the farmed bamboo vanity is the perfect height for harboring a few cubes of responsibly raised brie and a glass of syrah (organic, of course). Recycled glass tile mosaic floors and my own drought-toler-ant rooftop garden—how much do you think a place like this would go for? More importantly, when can I move in? — Alissa Walker, design blogger, Unbeige.com