8-415

Published: November 27, 2023

8-415: A masterclass in lighting

While documenting restrooms on campus in preparation for MIT Bathroom Review’s (patent pending) release, I stumbled across this sign:

I’ve never seen a restroom sign like this. Normally they’re more sophisticated, hidden behind a plastic sleeve with an image of the type of restroom you can find in that direction. Tradition eluded this bathroom sign, and instead replaced it with a post-modern, perhaps even meta-modern, take on the bathroom sign. It reminded me of the Candian brand no-name, and I was excited to learn more.

Right around the corner there was a women’s restroom. Well, slap my ass and fuck me silly. In my effort to avoid having charges pressed against me in the pursuit of my work, I have not yet made the effort to go into women’s restrooms and take copious amounts of pictures and notes; that’s where I draw the line. I’ve been interested in not being perceived as a creep after seeing what happened to Radiohead, so this has been one of my rules.

I kept going and eventually found a men’s restroom. The bathroom sign was at the entrance to building 4, and the men’s restroom was at the end of building 8. I don’t even know if this poop room would be the same as the women’s one I had just passed, but I decided to go in anyway. And what happened next is going to have you feeling like the cream in a twinkie.

The lighting in this bathroom was gorgeous. Frosted glass windows average the color of the sky, becoming both the entire wall and the lighting to the room. The fluorescent lights play nice, providing a warmth to contrast with the cool tone from the window. It was like I had walked into a slice of heaven. Like God had said to me, “this one’s for you, champ.” I audibly gasped and blushed. I knew that bathroom sign was a good idea.

I’ll go over the rest quickly. The sinks are nice and consistent, the radiator looks slick compared to other bathroom radiators, the urinals are average, and the soap dispensers are too low. The real joy of this bathroom was getting this shot of it:

Now, to get this shot, it had to be 4:15pm on Thanksgiving day, I sat by a bathroom door, in the dark, cross-legged, taking photos with a DSLR. It was really awesome, but weird. So the moment a man walked in, hit the lights and got the shit scared out of him, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised.

“Hey! Sorry!” I said. “I’m working on a project right now.”
“Oh ok“ the man said hurredly. I can tell he wanted to leave, but by this point it was too late. He’d already subtly communicated that he needed to pee or something. “What project are you working on?”
“MIT bathroom review” I told him. “I figured the best time to work on it was thanksgiving since no one’s around”
“Ohhh. Ok?…theres some crazy people here. “
“What?”
“Just there’s some crazy people here.”
“Yah there definitely are.” I said, not taking the hint.
He washed his hands, albeit quickly. I don’t think he followed the guideline 20 seconds before leaving. “Do you want me to turn off the lights?”
“Oh yah could you?” I smiled at him. “Thanks.”

My face is still red and sweaty as I write this. Journalism is often an unforgiving and thankless job.

VERDICT: 3/5 plungers. A masterclass in lighting and a social neck-of-the-woods, albeit a little bit standard.