Going Green

Location: Third Floor Biomedical Engineering Building on the West end

Utilities: 2 Stalls (one handicap), 2 Urinals, 2 Sinks, Paper Towels, Soap Dispenser

I was on my way home from Kinsolving one evening headed East on Dean Keeton on the South side of the street when I decided to pop into the glass lobby of Biomedical Engineering Building to use the restroom. I'd used this bathroom before because it was convenient for my walk home after dinner and not as heavily used as the Men's bathroom in Kinsolving itself. The bathroom is really easy to find, almost visible from the street through the glass walls of the main lobby.

I'm really a fan of this bathroom for several reasons. For one, the building is almost entirely labs, and labs mean grad students, and grad students, typically, mean clean restrooms. That's usually the case with this one.

For another thing, the tile color scheme is fantastic. It fits in with the rest of the building's decor, and uses a delightful combination of earth tones that are dark enough to hide the dirty grout in between tiles. I find it very pleasant to look at while using the facilities.

The other major plus of this bathroom is its water conservation technology. Instead of having automated stalls it offers the typical public restroom flush handle with a twist. It is immediately clear that something is different because the handles themselves are green, which according to some panels on the wall is due to the fact that it is coated in a germ fighting material. The panels on the wall also describe the other function of the handles, namely that depending on the type of waste you in the toilet you press the handle a different way. It uses less water for liquid waste than solid waste thus conserving water for those of us who like to pee sitting down. I'm a fan of this as it makes me feel like I'm relieving the environment while I relieve myself.

I highly recommend this bathroom as it is convenient, clean and environmentally friendly. It gets my first five flushes out of five.