Commercial Bathroom Ideas: Breaking It Down

Coming up with commercial bathroom ideas is no easy task. There’s a lot to consider; there’s everything you should do and a plethora of things you shouldn’t. At ASI, we’re here to help. With the right partner, this process can be a total cinch.

These are the key concepts to consider when designing a commercial bathroom:

• Try to create a concept around open design.
• Maximize every inch of space you have.
• Adhere strictly to every ADA compliance guideline.
• ensure you use the best appliances and fixtures you can find.

Three of these concepts equally bear the success of your bathroom design. However, one of them bears just a little more. It can either set your design above the rest or let it fall flat.

Designing an Open Concept

There’s no question. Open concepts are still widely popular—of course, there are some who may disagree. However, ever since open concepts entered the housing market somewhere in the mid-20th century, they quickly became commonplace in the commercial realm too. As such, when coming up with your best commercial bathroom ideas, an open concept must be at the top.

It helps to consider what sort of clientele will use your bathroom.

• High-end restaurant diners: Work within your budget to give these guests the comforts they paid for, while also adhering to your client’s specifications. Prioritize clean partitions and luxurious materials.
• Fitness center patrons: Maximize everything. These individuals move fast, and if what they need isn’t within arm’s reach, you’ve done something wrong. utilize features that provide them with their own spaces to operate in.
• Office coworkers: It may sound strange to emphasize talking areas in a bathroom, but that’s exactly what you need to do here. In the busiest offices, washing one’s hands might be the only chance one gets to connect with a coworker.
• Hotel guests: Like restaurant diners, give these guests the comforts they paid for but now focus on efficiency. In your design, make ingress and egress work for you to create the illusion of privacy in shared spaces.

The prospect of designing a commercial bathroom might seem like a daunting task. It doesn’t have to be, especially when you consider who you’re designing it for and what’s widely accepted.

Maximize Space in Your Commercial Bathroom Ideas

You might not always have the space you need to give the client what they want. Thankfully, there are some tricks you can employ that will get you close.

If possible, permit natural lighting in your commercial bathroom design. Natural lighting possesses the inherent trait of opening space. But take caution, as there is no cap or ideal ratio to rely on. The more natural lighting you permit, the more open the space will feel. The feeling of privacy quickly plummets, and privacy is one thing you cannot compromise. To combat this, employ recessed lighting.

Not only is physical lighting not as popular as it used to be, but it also tends to visually weigh down the ceiling, making it appear lower than it is. To prevent this intrusion of space from ever occurring, design recessed lighting into your bathroom space as soon as you can. By blurring the hard lines of where walls meet and not being visible themselves, they make a cramped room feel spacious.

Unibox, a visual communications company in the UK, agrees that lighting plays an instrumental role in whether someone perceives a room as comfortable, relaxing, or otherwise.

In the end, it’s important not to get too carried away with the balance between open designs and maximized spaces, because there’s something else to consider. Whatever your final design is, it must adhere to ADA compliance guidelines.

Commercial Bathroom Ideas and the ADA

When designing a commercial bathroom, a lot goes into upholding the values outlined in the ADA. In short, it must meet compliance by ensuring its design allows for easy maneuvering. It must also include mobility tools, like grab bars.

• Single-stall bathrooms: To keep it simple, a mobility circle of at least 60 inches around the side wall and 56 inches from the rear is required. This gives those using a standard wheelchair the space to make an entire 360-degree turn.
• Multi-stall bathrooms: Keeping the requirements of a single-stall bathroom in mind, a multi-stall bathroom requires at least one handicap stall that meets those requirements. There must also be enough space for someone to maneuver to that stall.

With ADA compliance met, maximized spaces, and open designs in mind, you can focus on the concept that will set your design above the rest: appliances and fixtures.

Appliances and Fixtures: Finding the Best

At ASI, form always follows function, but that doesn’t mean form can’t also look good. With every concept previously mentioned in mind, ASI designs and manufactures each of its pieces in-house. This means you get exactly what you want, closer to the price you need.

It makes sense to find a provider who offers multiple collections and an array of products.

• Piatto Collection: The elegance of less.
• Velare Collection: Elegantly conceal clutter.
• Roval Collection: Engineered for high-profile settings.
• Profile Collection: Manufactured with highly durable stainless steel.
• Simplicity Collection: Combining seamless construction and crisp design.
• Traditional Collection: A time-honored collection for exceptional value.

You can have the best laid-out bathroom design in the world, but that means nothing if you don’t furnish it properly per the clientele. The same goes for ADA compliance. You can plan every detail perfectly, but it counts for nothing without the specialty fixtures that meet those requirements.

ASI is dedicated not only to creating high-end products just for you but also to helping you put them where they need to go.

Partner with us when designing your next bathroom. If you want to learn more about our products, please call us at 914.476.9000 or learn more about us here.