Peculiar Plumbing: Fascinating toilets from around the globe

Apr 6
09:41

2012

Anna Woodward

Anna Woodward

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Indoor plumbing is a modern convenience that most Americans take for granted. Though most of us consider the toilet a mundane part of everyday life, innovative designers the world over have transformed the plain old john into a conversation piece.

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In Montreal's popular lounge,Peculiar Plumbing: Fascinating toilets from around the globe Articles Whiskey Cafe, male patrons can relieve themselves during a night of drinking on a massive metal urinal that is more of a steel wall than a porcelain throne. The unique urinal is controlled by a sensor, which sends down a stream of water when it senses it is being used. The water slides down the entirety of the wall in a thin sheet, flushing the waste into the drain that spans the bottom of the expansive urinal. When the user walks away, the urinal returns to its original, inconspicuous state: a clean slate.

Whiskey Cafe's female patrons are met with an even more unusual surprise when they enter their respective toilet room. "L'urinette" is just what it sounds like: a female urinal. L'urinette shares the same shape as a traditional men's urinal, but it features an upright tube with a cup and handle at the end. The woman places a protective covering over the device and goes. When she dismounts, everything snaps back into place, and the urinal flushes automatically. As the sign on the wall says, "Comme les garcons! Just like the boys!"

The toilets used in many Eastern countries, including India and Thailand, are much different from those found in in the West. Rather than sit on a seat-covered bowl, they squat over a latrine in the ground with their feet planted firmly on ridged footholds. Because of a less developed plumbing system, users must wash their waste down the drain with outside water.

In several locations, one can find the result of what happened when East met West. The Cyber Spice Cafe in Madhya Pradesh, for example, features a traditional Western-style toilet with large, ridged footholds protruding from both sides of the rim. This hybrid was invented when the establishment tried to introduce Western-style toilets only to find the majority of its patrons still trying to stand on the fragile toilet seat. After a bunch of broken toilet seats, sturdy footholds were added. The hinged toilet seat remains, giving the users the option to proceed however they wish.

The posh plumbing wonders in the loo are the main draws at London's extremely stylish restaurant Sketch. Each toilet is located in its own giant egg-shaped pod. The large, oblong eggs have a polished white exterior, but on the inside, the ladies' eggs glow pink while the gentlemen's glow blue.

Johannesburg's first public restroom structure still remains — and offers an interesting, yet upsetting, glimpse into South Africa's segregated past. The toilets for "gentlemen" (meaning "white men" at the time) were partitioned porcelain spaces that featured early modern plumbing with running water. However, black men had to slip in through the back to use their latrine, which consisted of a small hole in the stone ground. Last but not least, the women's toilets were nonexistent. It was not considered proper for a lady to relieve herself outside the home.

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