Urban Showers

Urban Showers is a system of shower pods with body dryers that gives easy access to the basic human right of having a place to perform daily hygienic needs.

Urban Showers came from looking at shared economy and hygiene and finding what was missing.  A public bathroom on city streets exists, but never has there been a public shower on the streets in modern cities. I decided the time has come for someone to address this lack of a basic piece of infrastructure that has not been implemented since the famous Roman Baths. The idea for the body dryer came from the need to dry off in a public space, and from looking at the large amount of water wasted by making and washing towels. 

Urban Showers tries to fill the gap between the hygienic expectations of the modern worker and the infrastructure that exists to aid this by creating a shared shower pod that is accessible throughout cities. My civic goal is to create equal access to the basic right of hygiene in contemporary communities. I seek to imagine new modes of hygiene practices that will create: a) access (the right to shower), b) sustainability (how to regulate the use of water and the implementation of renewable resources like solar and recycled water), and c) the fulfillment of basic human needs in cities. The Urban Showers is a finite piece of infrastructure that will facilitate equitable hygiene practices, but also encourage more environmentally attuned approaches to public hygiene. Ideally, it will also make the experience of ‘feeling clean’ more accessible to many more people.

Urban Showers is powered by solar panels and rechargeable batteries.  The shower pod includes a body dryer which eliminates the need to carry around a towel. The life cycle of a towel from growing the cotton to washing the towel at home, uses more water than the water used to shower oneself. The body dryer works using compressed air to create a blade of air that wicks the water off skin and hair. The Urban Shower system uses a water recycling system that is similar to a mini waste treatment plant.  Up to 80% of the water travels through three different sized filters and a water heater before it exists out of the shower head. The shower head replicates a misty rain that is water saving but still has enough power to wash away soap. Urban Showers is a network of smart shower pods that only give access to members and ban those who leave a mess.  This system would work through a rating system that the user would complete before starting their shower.