From the editors
A SHITTY ARCHITECTURAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY Words Federico Ruiz
Shit is brown. It is also one of those things that unites us as humanity, and yet we as architects and urbanists avoid talking about it. I don’t talk about it, in good part because my grandma told me that politics, religion and human excretions were not things to be discussed with others. However, the way architects design toilets might be the best clue to understand their view on this earthly matter.
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In my training as an architect there were several times when I had to design those spaces for relief. These were peculiar moments in which the grotesque sounds and fumes of our bodies had to be neutralised through architectural solutions such as “natural ventilation” or “acoustic insulation”. Today I realise that we architects are constantly talking about what we think a good dump should be, feel, (not) smell and sound like, even if we don’t like to use words to discuss this messy issue. In fact, I believe that the relevance of this matter transcends the simple task of sending bowel creations into the underground world of drainage pipes. For many slaves of capitalism such as myself, the toilet represents one of the few spaces for personal reflection, a place for total consciousness of one’s body and its volcanic workings. If everything is going well, it is there where the best ideas and most memorable epiphanies come to our bored brains. This is, of course, when our visit to the porcelain throne is not accompanied by the alienating presence of a smartphone. Doing so, apart from turning your phone into a petri dish for the growth of who knows what, is taking away the possibility of a transcendental experience. Although I will not be discussing the relationship between our bottoms and brains (I still believe there is a connection, though), I will try to understand what I think of defecation through the best evidence I have got: the toilet plans of some of the projects I designed during my bachelor years, as well as some memorable toilets I have encountered throughout my life.
