Sammaan’s Architectural Uniqueness

In an earlier post, Khyati from Anagram Architects talked about some of the architectural design principles that will be adopted across the toilets in Bhubaneswar & Cuttack.

Here are some additional features across the 92 community toilets that we will build across Bhubaneswar & Cuttack, that will be unique and will facilitate a better user experience:

• All toilet, bathing and clothes washing spaces are design detailed with appropriate fittings and fixtures.
• There will be separate entries for men and women, along with completely gender-segregated sections.
• There will also be a designated stall for the differently abled, the elderly and pregnant women. This stall will also be open through the night (even after toilet working hours) to cater to people who are ill or who need to use the toilet in an emergency. 
• The various booths and stalls have been placed in a manner to facilitate minimal waiting and easy flow and movement between spaces.
• The booths and stalls are larger and thus easier to use, than in most current toilet facilities. There is also sufficient circulation area in all parts of the toilet to enable better ventilation and flow and to avoid crowding & congestion.
• We will provide for electrical menstrual waste incinerators in the women’s area in all toilets. Users can directly dispose of their menstrual waste into these machines, which will electrically incinerate the waste. This feature would encourage women to properly dispose of the waste, thus preventing clogging up of toilets and building better hygiene in the toilets.
• The Caretaker’s booth in every toilet will allow for maximum visibility to reduce misuse and vandalism and to optimize in-flow of users.
• Use of “Floating roof”: We will use a light weight roofing system, which requires minimal structural support. This allows the peripheral walls with ventilator grills to be more open, allowing for natural ventilation and lighting.
• Zinc-aluminium roofing will be used for this ‘floating roof’ feature, and they necessitate lower costs & time than the the installation of concrete roofs. Also, since these are pre-fabricated, they are not prone to defective onsite installation.
• We will use local materials like Laterite stone; these are more readily available locally and allow for more easily accessible stone masonry. Laterite is also more water-resistant than regular bricks.