An Explanation of Urinals and Urinal Culture

I recently learned that: a) my wife was unaware of the complex social and technical interactions associated with urinals; and b) there are sometimes couches in women’s restrooms.

Knowing these two things to be, I guess, facts, I felt that I should share my knowledge of urinals and men’s restrooms in general, for the benefit of those for whom these rarified spaces remain mysterious.

It is my hope that this begins a dialogue, as, believe me, I’m sure a lot of you know way more about men’s rooms than I do. I also hope that someone will explain this couch thing to me, because honestly I feel a little bit cheated, having never reclined while in a public restroom.

1. Urinals Vary Greatly in Design and Proximity

In general, urinals exist to facilitate the act of peeing on a wall. It is surprising how many variations on the core urinal design exist, and how many problems these designs create. For instance:

By Flickr user Jason Wilson, whose cameraphone did not pick the right white balance.

Classy old-style “tall” urinal — these are like opened coffins, standing upright, that you pee into. You see these in hipster bars, and I get the impression that they have been salvaged from even cooler (but defunct) bars, or maybe the Supreme Court. Key design problem: They are shaped such that the “divider” between urinals is the urinal’s…