It takes a lot to design an efficient campground. Aside from the general landscape design, well-portioned green space, and walking paths, as well as the inclusion of campsites and lodging facilities, you need to take great care when designing your campground bathroom.
A well-designed bathroom will make sure that your campers have a place to take care of other personal hygiene needs. When built appropriately, it can also serve as a location for campers to meet and socialize. Howbeit, be sure to carry out extensive research in a bid to understand the regulations for building a campground bathroom.
Keep in mind that the regulations will vary from one place to another, and it is necessary you understand them before construction. You will also need to make sure that the bathroom is accessible to everyone, especially for those with disabilities.
Best Design Elements for Campground Bathroom
If you want to design an efficient campground bathroom, then you need to extensively consider its functionality, durability, and environmental impact. Nevertheless, to ensure you design the best bathroom for your campground, below are the best design elements for campground bathrooms;
1. Accessibility
One of the first things to consider when designing your campground bathroom is to ensure that it is accessible to people with disabilities. This will more or less include installing wider doorways, grab bars, and ADA-compliant facilities.
2. Durability
To ensure you build the right bathroom, utilize materials that can withstand the elements as well as heavy use. Experts suggest you leverage stainless steel fixtures and concrete floors.
3. Energy Efficiency
This is another important fact, especially since the right energy-efficient lighting and plumbing fixtures will help to reduce water and energy consumption.
4. Sustainable Design
Don’t forget to make use of eco-friendly features such as low-flow toilets, solar panels, as well as rainwater harvesting systems.
5. Ventilation
Do not skip on proper ventilation especially since they will help to prevent odors and maintain air quality. Consider making use of exhaust fans or natural ventilation methods.
6. Separate Facilities
Another important factor that will need to be taken into account is to create separate areas for toilets, showers, and sinks to accommodate varying needs.
7. Privacy: Don’t forget the importance of creating individual stalls that offer privacy as well as lockable doors.
8. Maintenance
You will also want to construct a bathroom that is easy to clean. So ensure to design for ease of cleaning and maintenance, with materials that wouldn’t easily fall prey to mold and mildew.
9. Lighting: You will also need to install adequate lighting to boost safety and security, particularly during nighttime.
10. Aesthetics
Also look for ways to come up with a design that aligns with the natural surroundings and boost the general camping experience.
Factors to Consider When Designing a Campground Bathroom
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Location
Most often, it is recommended you place the bathroom somewhere close to the campsite, where it can be accessible for your campers.
If possible, consider building or placing your bathroom close to the parking lot to make it easy for police or security to conveniently drive by and shine lights under the bathroom doors to ensure the homeless aren’t sleeping in the bathroom.
To build the right bathroom, you should first consider the number of bathrooms or toilets your campground needs. Most often, the number you need will depend on the size of the campground as well as the number of campsites.
In the United States, small campgrounds with less than 20 campsites can make do with two functional bathrooms and toilets. A medium-sized campground with around 20 and 50 campsites will need four well-built bathrooms and toilets or even more.
While a large campground with more than 50 campsites will need six or more bathrooms and toilets. The amount of people that will use the bathroom at one time will also impact the number of toilets that are needed.
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Your Intended Audience
Being able to customize your bathroom to align with your campground and your intending campers’ needs is critical. For one, you need to consider how your bathroom will serve those with disabilities.
You will want to first understand that not all disabilities are the same and they are not always physical or visibly noticeable, a good number of them can be emotional or sensory-related.
Over the years, this has been undermined or undervalued, especially when it comes to choosing the right fixtures for the bathroom particularly because it is not covered in ADA building codes.
Note that for someone dealing with a sensory disability, loud or unpredictable noises from flush systems or hand dryers can cause issues for them especially when it catches the individual off-guard. As such, be sure to consider manual features instead, and ensure someone in the camp is available to warn the individual.
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Matching Site Architecture
You would also want to design a bathroom that aligns with the surrounding architecture and goes beyond block construction, with finishes such as lap siding, stucco, brick, or cultured stone to boost the general aesthetics of the campground.
Note that with modular design, it is possible to inculcate other exterior features to guarantee that the building will look better.