- Title: POLAND: Warsaw station loos get bums on seats
- Date: 22nd July 2011
- Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (JULY 22, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF WARSAW CENTRAL STATION MAN ENTERING NEW TOILETS TOILET SIGN VARIOUS OF MAN USING SINK AND MAN PAYING TO USE TOILETS VARIOUS OF MEN USING URINALS WITH PICTURES OF DOGS LOOKING DOWN ON THEM (SOUNDBITE) (English) MANAGING DIRECTOR OF 2THELOO COMPANY, MARK OVERWETER SAYING: "Like I said, there are some them
- Embargoed: 6th August 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Poland, Poland
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVAAG0PRDXL9YLL6VRLLEX600Y0F
- Story Text: Warsaw's communist era train station gets a makeover in unexpected quarters: the station's toilets.
Warsaw's central train station has been fitted with new state-of-the-art toilets, as the city prepares itself for an influx of foreign visitors expected at next year's Euro2012 football championships.
The 2 zloty (50 euro cents) fee allows toilet goers to relieve themselves in a clean and brightly decorated environment created by Dutch design company, '2theloo'.
Overlooking the men's urinals sit three giant images of dogs.
Each cubicle has it's own individual theme, in one male cubicle there is an image of the White House, the U.S. seat of power, where one can defecate in the rose garden.
The Managing Director of the design company, Mark Overweter described some of the ideas behind his company's renovations, "Like I said there are some themes, but the White House is like international and here also people recognise it and you really have the feeling that you are in the garden of the White House. But also there's a monkey, a big monkey next door here."
Overweter went on to explain the public reaction to the new restroom area, "The reaction of the people is indeed, they are of course happy that finally they have nice toilets, but it's above their expectations in fact, here, especially maybe here in The Central Station here in Warsaw but people need it and they are happy that they have finally found a place where they can quietly do their thing," the Dutchman said.
The female toilets are just as colourful, with one cubicle made up to look like a library, another adorned with enormous red lips and perhaps the most risqué of the lot has an image of a lady's jeans wrapped around her ankles.
The customers, who can pick up a cup of coffee or buy toiletries at the inter-joining shop seemed very satisfied with the new facilities, "It's very good it's much better than it was before, it's clean, comfortable, nice and really super," said Farida Ismilova.
Another member of public Pawel Kaniol thought that the new style of toilets should be installed at other train stations too, "It's very nice, it's very practical, very clean and I think something like this should be at every station," he said.
Warsaw's main train station has often been perceived as one of the relics of a social realist style of architecture and is undergoing badly needed renovations.
New toilets are just the first step in the process of doing away with the grey and grim past.
Jacek Przesluga, The Director of "Dworzec Polski", the company overseeing the modernisation of 916 train stations in Poland, said he wanted to change the stereotype of the station, "At first there was this great idea to destroy and rebuild, which in other cultures is understood as 'we can change', we can change this station. We think that it's worth it, and necessary to renew everything that was left in Poland after communism. The old claustrophobic, cold, dead train station is well suited to these plans, not only when one takes the upcoming EURO 2012 into consideration but because it's necessary for a new perception of Polish train stations and public space," said Przesluga.
The total cost to renovate Poland's busiest train stations is estimated at 49 million zloty (12.2 million euro).
As for the cheerful new toilets, the Dutch design company has plans to open a second set of lavatories in Warsaw station and another in Ukraine, adding to the number of '2theloo' toilets that have already sprung up in Amsterdam, Spain and Belgium. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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