Two recent short articles from BBC News Online ("City toilets rise to the occasion") and the Register ("Rise of the man-eating cyberloo") are pointing at the installation of futuristic retractable urinals in the center of Aberdeen, Scotland. The City Council considers that there are not enough public toilets, especially at night and that these 6 feet retractable toilets will prevent men to urinate in the streets. These Urilifts will be remotely controlled by city employees and can welcome three men simultaneously. There is also a version for women, called Urilady, but apparently the City Council is not considering such an installation for the moment. Read more.
Here are some details given by BBC News Online.
Aberdeen City Council officials said there were not enough toilets available at night when revellers pack the city centre bars and restaurants.
It is considering installing two 6ft Urilift retractable cubicles which look like manhole covers until hydraulic cylinders bring them from the pavement.
They would be operated by Aberdeen City Council staff using remote controls. Up to three men at a time can use the urinal facility.
The two pictures above show the Urilift -- for men -- and the Urilady -- for women -- which is not currently under consideration by the Aberdeen City Council.
You can find high-quality versions of these photos on this page, but please avoid the irritating parent site (Macromedia Flash format).
When we retreat to the country, we are hiding not from people, but from our pride, which, in the city and among people, operates unfairly and immoderately.
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
How do you think these Urilifts cost? You can find an answer in an Aberdeen city bulletin, "City may purchase new hi-tech toilets." Two of these toilets, plus a more traditional Automatic Public Convenience (APC) will cost up to £ 125,000.
Now, let's switch to the Register, which, as usual, uses quite an ironic tone. Here are two short paragraphs from the article.
Battalions of remote-controlled stealth cyberloos disguised as manhole covers but capable of rising from the pavement in seconds and devouring up to three urinating Scotsmen in one vicious attack.
We kid you not. Aberdeen City Council is considering installing two 6ft "Urilift" retractable cubicles in response to a reported lack of late-night toilet facilities. Naturally, it's not enough to knock up a traditional, brick-built Caledonian crapper. Nope, what Aberdeen needs a is hydraulically-powered cyberbog operated by "council employees" from a remote command centre.
Now, for real fun, here is a link to a document prepared by the Aberdeen City Council about environment and infrastructure (PDF format, 14 pages, 240 KB).
Here is what the Council says about Justice Mill Lane.
This is a very busy nightspot with extensive associated street urination. We would suggest the installation of two urilifts on the routes out of the lane towards the taxi rank.
If you are going into that line,—going to besiege the city of God,—you must not only be strong in engines, but prepared with provisions to starve out the garrison.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
Finally, if you're interested by this subject, you'll find more details on the Urilift by reading this fact sheet (PDF format, 2 pages, 300 KB). This document states that this retractable urinal is "designed to counter the growing problem of indiscriminate urination."
Sources: BBC News Online, March 18, 2005; Lester Haines, The Register, March 24, 2005; and various web pages
Related stories can be found in the following categories.
Architecture
Innovation
Miscellaneous.