A newly remodeled multi-gender bathroom at the Newark International Airport was announced as a finalist for the Cintas 2022 Best Restroom Contest.
A restroom located in Terminal B’s Newark Liberty International Airport was named as one of the finalists in Cintas’ annual Best Restroom Contest. The all-gender restroom was reimagined with the specific intent of accommodating more passengers at one of the busiest airports in the world.
Cintas Marketing Manager, Julia Messinger noted in a statement, “This year’s top 10 finalists include small and large businesses from diverse categories competing for the title of America’s Best Restroom. The public holds higher standards for the cleanliness and technology used in public restrooms which is why we’re proud to recognize these businesses that maintain clean and exceptional facilities.”
In the Cintas writeup, they noted:
“This project provides a new restroom facility in a 1970’s-era terminal departure lounge area at Newark Liberty International Airport that was required due to inadequate capacity at the existing restrooms. The restroom design provides an exceptional experience for all passengers by eliminating the traditional amalgamation of restroom facilities through gender-based separation in favor of public environments that allow privacy for all users. An added benefit of this all-gender solution was the ability to accommodate a larger number of users than a traditional restroom configuration, with “potty parity†for all. Areas for traveling companion waiting and passenger reorganization are provided to compliment the private areas. Local imagery, integrated into the architectural treatment of glass and tile, establishes a sense of place to remind the users where they might have visited or what they might want to experience during a return trip. Sound and scent compliment the visual experience to create a calming environment.”
Cintas
The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has invested millions of dollars in revitalizing and modernizing several of the region’s airports over the past few years, with more to come.
The Newark Airport is not the only airport to make the best restroom list. Tampa International Airport’s Airside C section also made the list featuring “new high-design, spacious restrooms, coupled with quality craftsmanship and an inviting, yet durable, material palette.”
Winners of the best restroom contest will receive a Cintas UltraClean® restroom cleaning service ahead of the winner announcement on September 19, 2022 and a $2,500 credit towards the cost of qualifying products or services from Cintas.
Voting is open until August 13.
3 comments
Tough to get much detail on this layout from the info given, but in my experience these gender neutral setups come at a huge efficiency cost. The loss of urinals, and the loss of toilets separated only by hovering “dividers†is the cause. So while it’s luxurious to have these “individual toilet rooms†which appear to be the route most “gender neutral†bathrooms are going, it comes at a great space/efficiency cost. See the bathrooms in the capital one lounge dfw as an example. You end up waiting for access longer than you would at a cisgender bathroom in the concourse.
this doesn’t do enough to create safe spaces for the minor-attracted persons LGTBQIA+ community.
I don’t see why not to have a unisex restroom. In the men’s room in an airport terminal, men to not walk around naked. At most, some Muslim men are washing their feet.