The fact that it allows them to put the pipes needed for all those items in the same place probably also helps. In a lot of places near me, the kitchen sink shares a wall with the bathroom because it's cheaper to do the plumbing that way. If the bathroom and kitchen were on opposite sides of the place, that means more work plumbing wise.
Plus, walls take up a lot of space. If we put the toilet in a different room, that would mean losing more space to walls (and configuration options). In my bathroom, the sink is in the front followed by the toilet followed by the shower. Walls (and the clearance that the doors would need) would mandate using a lot more space. Plus, you'd need more space for each bit not to feel claustrophobic. You don't feel like you're in a tiny box at the sink in my bathroom because it's open to the toilet and shower. If each section was only 3ft wide, it would feel really claustrophobic.
I think it's partly practical and partly cost savings.
Shorter walls are cheaper, but it also makes it easier to clean, easier to help someone in case of an emergency, and easier to tell if the stall is occupied.
Proper planning generally means those bathrooms are right next to each other, so the toilets use the same drain and vent pipes and water supply except for the last 2 feet. You ideally put the kitchen and laundry close as well. Of course you often cannot put everything close and that add cost, but it is attempted.
i recently started brushing/flossing/shaving/etc in my kitchen, which has a better view, and is larger, and usually pretty damn clean.
my tiny bathroom is now for showering and eliminating only.
should have done it years ago. it makes way more sense in an apartment. did you notice nice/large houses usually have the toilet separated from the sinks?!
I really wonder how we started to have the toilet and place for washing up in the same room. Especially when you have more than one person it is so much more convenient to have them separate.
You can also just have a small shower room, with a separate door, it's about equivalent. You see this in many houses where the sink vs shower & toliet are two separate 'rooms' connected to each other.
I just built my house with three bathrooms. ("Two and half," by American standards.) I almost did four, but I just didn't want to have to scrub another toilet.
Why three toilets:
The "half bathroom" is by the kitchen, living room, ect. It's just a sink and toilet. This is the one that, by courtesy, guests use. Because there's no bath, guests don't see our towels, toothbrushes, and other mess that accumulates. (No toothpaste stuck in the sink!) We also put prettier fixtures in there, because it's the one we go in most often.
Then there's a normal bathroom (toilet, sink, and tub) that the kids and overnight guests can use.
Then we have our master bathroom, attached to the master bedroom, which has a toilet, shower, and two sinks. (Useful when my wife and I brush our teeth at the same time.) The point of keeping it attached to the master bedroom is basically so we don't have to walk around the house in "bedclothes" when we have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Another thing that this article misses: A lot of people like to loose track of time reading on the toilet. There's nothing wrong with that when you have extra toilets in your house.
A lot of people get more utility from an extra half bath than an extra closet
Bathrooms make entertaining people easier, both by having them conveniently located and by reducing the privacy infringement of making your master bath available (everyone's an asshole and goes through everyone else's medicine cabinet)
It's not wasteful since having more bathrooms doesn't mean you go to the bathroom more.
Pixar had a really cool idea put all of the bathrooms on one side of the building
I'd be interested to know how much they saved on plumbing costs. That seems to me like an architectural decision driven by financial concerns and sold as a benefit. Not that it isn't a benefit, many of the most interesting designs are a consequence of some practical constraint.
That makes sense, but it would still be a huge improvement to eliminate gaps everywhere but the floor. The cost argument makes sense, but it doesn’t explain why it’s ubiquitous in the US but not in Europe, since the cost-saving incentive should be roughly the same in both regions.
Perhaps it started in the US because of safety or puritanism, but has now simply become a de facto standard in the US building industry. I doubt most building developers still think about safety or puritanism and specifically request this type of bathroom walls.
Good to know. I've always wondered why my bathroom has a separate little closet-sized room with a toilet. I always thought it was worse because you can't wash your hands until after you've touched the flusher handle and the door knob. Of course any reasonable person with two hands will use separate hands, but it's just weird to me.
Additionally, there was a towel rack in that room. I took it down because, again, it makes no sense. Why would anyone need a towel in the toilet room?
My wife and I recently moved into a 2 bed 2 bath apartment, mainly because we wanted the extra bedroom for an office as she works remotely. I was surprised to discover that it is so nice not having to share a bathroom—no stress about getting in each other’s way in the morning, less bathroom clutter—it’s really nice. I can see how people would get used to it. And then of course having an extra half bathroom for guests is the obvious next step.
I actually have that in my apartment in SF. It may be because it's a three bedroom place with only one bath though. It's nice because someone can use the toilet while the shower is in use, but then you have to walk to the kitchen to wash your hands....wish someone had the foresight to add the faucet-top toilet ;)
This could be a space-saving measure. A bathroom also needs to be used by other occupants of the house/apartment (children, guests staying over etc.) and if it's only available by passing through the master bedroom, it becomes a privacy issue.
As a consequence, you need to add more bathrooms (which requires additional space and money) or make the primary one accessible in a more public way (from the hallway).
Plus, walls take up a lot of space. If we put the toilet in a different room, that would mean losing more space to walls (and configuration options). In my bathroom, the sink is in the front followed by the toilet followed by the shower. Walls (and the clearance that the doors would need) would mandate using a lot more space. Plus, you'd need more space for each bit not to feel claustrophobic. You don't feel like you're in a tiny box at the sink in my bathroom because it's open to the toilet and shower. If each section was only 3ft wide, it would feel really claustrophobic.
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