In Museum’s New Bathrooms, Flushing is Eco-Friendly
Location
57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60607 Map
Owner
Museum of Science and Industry
Architect
Ross Barney Architects
Contractor
Belcaster Commercial Contractors, LLC
Toilet Manufacturer
Sloan Valve Co.
By William Olson
57th and LSD
Waste elimination is becoming decidedly less wasteful at the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI). As part of a larger capital improvement program managed by Jones Lang LaSalle, the MSI is nearing the completion of the green renovation of a trio of restrooms.
The museum has teamed with Belcaster Commercial Contractors to install waterless urinals– a first for Illinois in a public facility. The unique plumbing is just one part of the museum’s broader goal to position itself as a steward to the green movement and leader in environmental science education, according to J. Jeffrey Johnson, the Project Manager for the improvements program.
Twenty four waterless urinals will be installed in the men’s rooms on the main floor, balcony level and lower level of the museum. The urinals, manufactured by Sloan Valve Co., in Elk Grove Village, employ cartridges filled with a viscous blue fluid that keeps odors sequestered in the sewer. The cartridge, which is good for approximately 7,500 “uses,” takes the place of the crystal cakes typically used to neutralize the odors and eliminates the need for water to dilute the urine on its way down the drain. The cartridge replacements are much more expensive than the spray-and-scrub approach, and they require a unique maintenance regimen as well. But the efficient operation of waterless urinals will allow the museum to recoup the initial investments. As many as 750,000 gallons of water will be saved per year, and the cartridges themselves are recyclable.
In addition to the waterless urinals, the lighting of the main-floor and balcony-level restrooms will receive an upgrade. Solar tubes will be installed to harvest natural daylight and fluorescent lighting will be equipped with motion sensors to illuminate the rooms only when necessary. Lower-level restrooms take water conservation even further through the use of a greywater recovery system which collects and filters wastewater from the sinks and uses it for flushing the toilets. The MSI’s restrooms have eschewed paper towels for hand drying, opting instead for motion-activated, high-efficiency air dryers.
The whole operation will be wired with sensors measuring water and energy use; a Sloan-designed automation system will help the museum’s staff track and monitor resource usage, and motion detectors will notify personnel in the event of an emergency.
Although the renovations represent significant green improvements, Johnson says the MSI is not seeking LEED® certification for the project because it would have been difficult to find the appropriate category for a green restroom renovation. Still, Johnson says he’s confident that the museum could have achieved certification even though the design team opted to avoid several common sustainable elements. Dual flush toilets, for example, were not installed, and the upstairs restrooms won’t feature greywater reclamation technology. This last consideration was due mainly to cost; the renovation would have meant digging into the innards of a building that’s more than a century old.
Up next for the museum is a complete overhaul of its HVAC system, which promises even more of an impact on the building’s green bottom line. The restroom renovations are projected to cost approximately $200,000, financed through the museum’s major capital campaign and a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
William Olson can be reached at williamolson@dellmail.com.
Tags: eco-friendly bathroom, eco-friendly restroom, Green renovation, greywater, lighting occupancy sensors, Science and Industry, waterless urinals
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