Touchless Restrooms
At the Virgin America terminal at SFO, I always marvel at the design of the restroom. Make a note the next time you’re in the terminal. The restroom doesn’t have the traditional doors which could be a primary source of germs. Instead it has somewhat of curved entryway to afford privacy & a huge signage that directs you to the entry. The traffic flow is orderly & instead of using more toilet paper to open the door handle, you just walked out on the opposite side of the entry.
The faucet & the soap dispenser (if I recall correctly) are both “touchless”. The faucet spews out a nice spray of water that minimizes waste. The tile work is great. And the bathroom feels very spacious.
And the hand dryer…Ever wonder if that hand dryer really saves because it uses electricity. I put my hands in that contraption & they’re dry in seconds.
“Facility managers feel because they don’t have the electricity for the dryer, it’s going to be too costly for them to install the hand dryer and bring the electricity to it, and they stay with paper,” says Bill Gagnon of Excel Dryer. “They don’t think it’s affordable. With the cost of a high-speed hand dryer and its installation, you are still looking at less than a one-year payback in almost every situation.”
It is a great model for a public facility as it tries to minimize germ contamination, save natural resource with less use of paper products & efficient use of electricity because of the high-speed hand dryers. I give kudos to the “green” design & effort that makes this terminal really cool.
Source: Touchless Products Enhance Restroom Comfort, Efficiency