About 3 hours into my flight it dawned on me. I had to take a leak. I wasn’t expecting a rendezvous with great design, but there it was in the most unlikely of places. The airplane lavatory (and, BTW, why don’t they call it a bathroom or restroom or toilet — who calls it a lavatory in everyday life?).
When you lock the door the lights turn on. When you unlock the door the lights go off. Perfect. It’s sorta like being in a huge refrigerator, but in reverse. In this case when you close (lock) the door the light goes on.
Anyway, I thought it was great design. Why should two things that always happen together (lock the door and turn on the light) be a two step process with different controls? Just make it one step, one control. Lock and light, one switch. Great thinking. I wonder who invented that.
GeeIWonder
on 27 Mar 08Hmm. Not everyone will walk into a dark room, close the door to the dark room and then lock it only to find the light turns on. Most people, I think, turn on the light and then lock/close the door.
It’s really designed to test how badly you need to go to the lava-toilet.
GeeIWonder
on 27 Mar 08(I do agree though that sitting on the can is a wonderful way to get inspired)
Jennifer Davis
on 27 Mar 08I agree about going into a dark room. However, I did find it a horribly bad design when I once needed to take my young son to the bathroom on a plane. There is no room for me to go in with him, of course, so he went in alone. He couldn’t reach the lock (and didn’t recognize it as a lightswitch as it doesn’t look like anyone he had seen before) and nearly had a hazardous waste spill right there as he panicked about being in the dark. I couldn’t lock it for him and turn on the light from the outside, so he actually had to go standing in the dark with the door ajar to let in light. Not a great way to maintain high cleanliness standards, I can tell you. I guess “kid friendly” bathroom design on planes will come when IKEA starts offering airline service.
Ryan Weaver
on 27 Mar 08How about a a bathroom that flushes as the toilet as well? That would relieve many messy situations often found in public bathrooms. (no puns intended?)
Jonathan Hedley
on 27 Mar 08A nice part of this is that it really encourages the user to lock the door. On a long-haul flight with a few drinks under your belt, it’d be easy to forget.
And I love that the light/lock switch also controls the busy indicator in the cabin.
Paul
on 27 Mar 08It also has the side benefit of not allowing the light to be accidentally left on. I wonder if that was the original inspiration for combining the two functions?
Scott Raymond
on 27 Mar 08Reminds me of something I’ve seen a lot in hotels across southeast Asia: in order to turn on the electricity and AC in the room, you have to insert your key into a slot on the wall. That makes it impossible to waste electricity, and as a nice side effect, it’s impossible to lose your keys. Here’s an example:
http://dannyseo.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/04/smart_hotel_dev.html
mkb
on 27 Mar 08Ryan, in fact I have seen public toilets in French train stations that DO wash and sanitize the entire room between uses.
Anonymous Coward
on 27 Mar 08To the people who want the bathroom to sanitize itself, remember the constraints an airplane is under:
Water, storage, power, and time. Sanitizing things takes a lot of water, power, and time. Longer lines for airplane bathrooms isn’t a win-win.
Jeremy
on 27 Mar 08They probably call them lavatories on planes because you’ll neither bathe nor rest in these spaces.
Jack Turner
on 27 Mar 08The general name for this kind of a design is an interlock.
yy
on 27 Mar 08Duh
Paul
on 27 Mar 08Q: “I wonder who invented that.”
A: Someone who had to go to the bathroom in the dark. A stubbed toe was probably involved. If only he had slipped and hit his head on the back of toilet….
shofr
on 27 Mar 08allot of these “lavatories” will actually flush and spritz the air with a scent when the door is unlocked. that’s prolly more ingenious than the lights going on.
FJ de Kermadec
on 27 Mar 08Air France calls them “toilets” in all their safety briefings, which gets quite a few giggles from passengers – why I have no idea.
As for the lock design, it is indeed a very nifty invention in that it saves buttons and ensures the user will close the door as there is no way for the ordinary user to get light in the space otherwise – which I am sure was the original motivation.
Most planes allow doors to be locked from the outside, however, – or rather, unlocked, but the system works both ways – and feature a lit and locked position for cleaning crews to do their job. It’s just not obvious enough to be a concern.
On the downside, and as others have mentioned, this button does not look like a regular switch, which probably prompts the adjunction of yet another Strangely Capitalized Sticker To The Inside Of The Door.
The first set of considerations makes it good design. The second prevents it from being, in my humble opinion, great design.
GeeIWonder
on 27 Mar 08Yeah. It’s hidden. There’s no obvious answer to a new user (be it child or otherwise) on how to turn the light on before locking themselves in to a dark, nasty (airplane bathroom qualifies!) location.
It’s got some neat implications, but certainly not great design. Lights shouldn’t be a pleasant surprise.
Noel Jackson
on 27 Mar 08Really, the way the airplane doorknob works makes you have to step inside and turn around, increasing the degree of rotation and time it takes. instead of… Push door, flick light switch with left hand, slightly turn to your right, and slightly push in to lock the door, then proceed forward… (if the door swung to the right, reverse that for left swinging doors)
Also, the placement of those specific airplane bathroom door switches is usually awkward: up about chest height, instead of wrist height. I wonder why?
The motion sensing lights are another option to the problem for having to do two things instead of one. But, I always find that the sensor gets placed so that you DO have to walk into a dark room for a moment – which feels awkward. More elegant, and properly cheaper than a door lock that also triggers a light (wiring through the door would be hard).
I’m thinking of getting some motion sensing lights for “passageways” in my home.
Anonymous Coward
on 27 Mar 08I guess I’ll ask the obvious…what if you want the light off, but the door locked?
You know what I mean…
Andrew
on 27 Mar 08I just can’t believe how many people still won’t lock the door! I hope they make it so that if you don’t lock the door, the toilet cover can’t be opened.
Umesh
on 27 Mar 08While the idea seems to be good, its true that its not intuitive enough for the user to know beforehand that he has to lock the door inorder to turn on the lights. I myself would have searched for the lights switch keeping the door open to let the outside light in.
As a solution the fridge light function should also be integrated with it. The rules for the light should be
1. The lights should be on when the door is locked
2. The lights should be on when the door is open (like the fridge)
3. The lights should still be on when the door is closed and wait for a couple of seconds before going off; which will give the user the time to lock the door which will also keep the light on.
GeeIWonder
on 27 Mar 08Umesh can design the bathroom in my private plane. And the fridge.
blj
on 27 Mar 08I can see a problem with Umesh’s design. What if user does not know how to lock the door? Also, how do you know when the door is closed and when it is locked. I am sure this can be worked out with clever engineering, but why? I say, leave the mild, low wattage light on forever. Make the passageway darker, your eyes would have expanded to let more light in, the minute you pass through the darker passageway and get into the toilet. Saves energy and lower cost of production and maintenance.
Umesh
on 27 Mar 08@blj I understand your point. My solution is most sophisticated you know!! :P
A simpler solution would be to have a dim light always on in the toilet so that you are able to see inside and the lock. You assume thats the only light you are gonna have and lock the door and bang goes the light brighter. No rules, no waits.
@GeeIWonder Thanks for the offer :P
Anonymous Coward
on 27 Mar 08I think this is also for night flights, when the cabin lights are dimmed. That way the light from the toilet doesn’t wake people up by glaring at them.
Imagine if you're sat right next to the toilet!tret
on 27 Mar 08Bad toilet door design: Virgin Pendolino trains, you press a button then the (huge) door slowly slides closed so that takes a while. Then this is the bad part you then have to press a lock button which lights up red.
The biggest problem with this is there is no physical motion of locking the door and a lot of people assume the door locks on close, so I’ve seen it happen many times where someone will walk up press the door open button then some poor person is slowly unveiled on the toilet and I don’t think you cam make the door close until it is all the way open, making matters 100 times worse.
English Phil
on 27 Mar 08The only problem I’ve encountered with the dual function is if the door doesn’t quite lock properly, so you’re left guarding the door with one foot and peeing in the dark.
BTW, I always use the word ‘lavatory’. Doesn’t everyone?
Pip pip.
Daniela
on 27 Mar 08Re. to the first comments: I don’t know which airplane are you talking about, but in most Boeings when you enter the lavatory the room is not completely dark, but dimly lit so you can see where the lock/light switch is, and the room is perfectly usable should you forget to lock the door.
John Sextro
on 27 Mar 08I’d prefer if the the room was illuminated when I stepped in and then the door sensed that someone was in there and locked when it closed.
When I pull the handle to leave the door can unlock and the light can go off.
In my mind this would be a better design.
And then for the perfect design…A mist of super-duper disinfectant and deodorizer would be sprayed on all of the surfaces in preparation for the next user.
sarah
on 27 Mar 08ha you’re a goober, and i’m amazed how many people will actually comment such a post. such a sad life we live.
nickd
on 27 Mar 08Worth noting: no airplane’s bathroom is entirely dark as you step in. There’s a dim light so you can keep your bearings and not get creeped out. It’s just that another, much brighter, light comes on when the door is locked.
It’s a great form of subtle, well-tuned feedback that lets you know that you have successfully locked the door, giving you security that the door does indeed say “OCCUPIED”.
Andy
on 27 Mar 08Our office has a closet with integrated light switches: open door, light goes on; close door, light goes off. Annoyingly, this isn’t set up on the main supply closet, but rather the “extra” closet that nobody really uses.
Still, nice feature.
Scott
on 27 Mar 08I’m wondering who takes their camera with them into the bathroom/toilet/lavatory… ;)
Vicky
on 27 Mar 08I think it has to do more with business than it does with customer convenience or rather they probably don’t really care about the design, but on an airplane their is a ROI for being energy efficient. They’re probably somehow saving tons of money or energy or both. The toilet probably doesn’t automatically flush because in some sick way their hoping you forget to flush for water conservation.
I think most lavatories smell like a Port-O-Potty that you see at construction sites (those little out house looking things).
Why don’t they disinfect the whole place after each use if we have to smell that disinfectant smell anyway.
I think they also enabled the ‘automatic lights’ for guys who would have really bad aim without a light.
Maybe their just being ‘female’ friendly. :)
David
on 27 Mar 08Jason – you missed a very important point. The interlock design is a result of constraints not “great thinking.” The engineer was forced into making the design because an airplane lavatory is too small for a light switch.
John Topley
on 27 Mar 08@Scott Raymond
Is that not universal then? It’s very common in European hotels.
Mimo
on 27 Mar 08An engineer who was lazy to build another switch and built it right in the lock.
Christopher Hawkins
on 27 Mar 08Awesome. I’m totally picturing Jason standing in the lavatory, flipping the lock to locked-unlocked-locked-unlocked over and over, watching the light go on and off, with a great big childish grin on his face.
I love it when I notice cool engineering in everyday places, too. It’s a real feeling of “Wow!”.
Some of the
on 27 Mar 08This post and most of its comments goes a long way toward showing how contrived the design profession really is.
Mark Eagleton
on 27 Mar 08I don’t understand why people call it a bathroom in everyday life. If it is a room with a bathtub in it, by all means call it a bathroom. You don’t call your kitchen a bedroom if there is no bed in it. At least I don’t.
Christopher Hawkins
on 27 Mar 08“I don’t understand why people call it a bathroom in everyday life. If it is a room with a bathtub in it, by all means call it a bathroom. You don’t call your kitchen a bedroom if there is no bed in it. At least I don’t.”
Yeah, but they also call it a restroom, and there’s not really any rest to be had in there.
Pretty much every name used for the can is just so we can avoid having to call it the “piss room”.
john
on 27 Mar 08Why not just put a window in the bathroom? Then you don’t have to pay for the fancy electronics that cause airplane bloat!
It’s not like anyone is going to see in, and if you are going to be sitting for your short stay in the “facilities” you have something to look at.
Mark
on 28 Mar 08@David – I think it’s less about space and more about weight. You have no idea how concerned airplane designers are about weight. I’ve been around them long enough that whenever I get on a plane, I start mentally tallying up the weight of the various placards (“please put your luggage in wheels first,” etc.)
Also, two switches would require two wire runs, a more complex wire bundle, brackets to support the wires, and a certification plan for everything involved. Not to mention the documentation to replace one. Easier to have one switch.
Manuel, Æstheticrew
on 28 Mar 08I am not a regular flyer, so i am just guessing here:
I can not believe that you actually have to get into a dark room and that you have to lock it to find out how to switch on the light. I actually think that this is “as bad as it gets”-design.
It should work like this: When the door is opened or closed, the lights should switch on for about a minute and dimm down after that (if there is no door movement recognized). One minute should be enough to lock the door and to manually switch on the light by locking the door), even for heavy duty arses.
Ewan
on 28 Mar 08I was born a Brit, worked all over the world and have settled in Indonesia. The ‘correct’ word for the bathroom/toilet/w.c. in each country you visit is one of those skills you subconsciously pick up after a while. American’s may think lavatory is an odd word (though I can’t see why) but you should see the looks you get in a UK restaurant when you ask where the ‘bathroom’ is (why? you planning on taking a bath?). As for ‘rest room’ – what a cop out? Nothing restful about a trip to most toilets! [Here in Indonesia you can safely ask for the WC (which is actually an abbreviation of water closet) but they pronounce it “Way Chay”.] The other phrase the varies country to country is the humble mobile/cell/hand phone…
Don Schenck
on 28 Mar 08@Paul: +1 for BTTF reference.
john Topley
on 29 Mar 08@john
Aeroplane windows are expensive. Besides, I can’t recall a single plane lavatory I’ve ever used where the toilet hasn’t faced you as you enter, so you wouldn’t be able to look through the window when sat anyway.
Aviatrix
on 29 Mar 08I just StumbleUpon’ed your blog. It’s sweet! Anyway, it’s funny you mention the lock/switch. I’m a flight attendant, and every damn day I see people go in, do a little circle dance, look up, look down, look outside, and they can’t find the light switch. It’s sort of stupidly amusing. I do feel bad for the kids who go in and can’t reach the lock. They’re stuck in there with no light, and I don’t want to freak them out by locking them in from the outside.
Daniel
on 30 Mar 08Wow… lots of comments here. I only just skimmed them, but I didn’t see this gem mentioned anywhere (I might be wrong):
Off light switch hook by Scott Amron
It shares the same principle as the lavatory-lock/light-switch in that it’s controlled by connected event (in this case hanging your jacket). The airplane lavatory of course has the advantage that there is no other light source, so you’d have to turn the lights on. Amron’s switch on the other hand would keep the light on in a sunlit room. Still a nice design though
Daniel
on 30 Mar 08Not to self: Think before ye post.
Apparently the link I posted above don’t actually show the usage I’d seen elsewhere, and now I’m not even certain I found the right link.
What I have seen somewhere - and what I probably confused with Amron’s switch - was a coat-rack/switch system: You hang up your coat when you come home, and presto! the lights turn on. When you leave and take your coat with you, the lights turn off.
Anyway, it may have been that same switch that I’ve seen used in that way, or maybe it was another thing all together. Apologies for posting to hastily.
Lau T.
on 31 Mar 08I’ve been on flights where there are windows in the business class lavatory. It makes the room feels a lot more comfortable.
Regarding the word lavatory maybe it’s because the international language of flying is English.
Micah Winkelspecht
on 31 Mar 08From this camera angle it appears you were sitting down, and I refuse to take design advice from a man who sits when he pees.
Great presentation at sxsw, by the way.
Harald Felgner
on 01 Apr 08Exactly my point:
1. Why not switch on the lights as soon as I open my condo (when it's dark outside)? 2. Why not switch on the light when my alarm bell rings? 3. Why not close all doors of my car as soon as I leave - nobody else is inside? 4. Why not keep open the bus and street rail doors just by approaching them?More? http://www.felgner.ch/2008/04/just_make_it_one_step.html
This discussion is closed.