Toilets

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Ana Iraís Campillo Sánchez Design Anthropology Jan 23, 2009. A00888206 Toilets of the World

To choose a particular object that has changed humanity’s way of living, I begun by analyzing our daily routine, emphasizing my attention particularly on activities that were considered ordinary in our lifestyle, but without which life just wouldn’t be the same. Since the time we are born, our activities can be divided into three main ones: sleeping, eating, and… what comes after eating. Defecating is not a particular activity of human behavior, but the whole ritual that happens around it is especially different for us than for other animals, mainly because we have been capable of creating particular objects to solve needs that are not coming from aesthetical places. And that is because ever since there were humans, there have been human wastes. “Several of the more advanced ancient civilizations, Greek, Indian and Roman, had a system providing running water to citizens in the larger cities. Roman aqueducts were marvels of engineering bring fresh water from large distances to cities across southern Europe. Still, none of the ancient civilizations developed a device or method to use the water source to remove waste from individual residences. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the chamberpot and the outhouse were still the only choices for rich or poor in the large cities of Europe and America.” Incredibly, this situation lasted for a very long period of time. Although the idea of the toilet goes as far back as 1596, it was not until 1775 that the patent was given to Alexander Cummings, and even so, it did not affect the market back then because technology was not sufficient to make the invention spread into homes all around the world. “A toilet is a plumbing fixture used for defecation and urination. Modern toilets consist of a bowl fitted with a hinged seat and are connected to a waste pipe where waste is flushed.”2 But toilets before the use of water to get rid of wastes used sand and solid material to help odor diminish. Nevertheless, those toilets were kept outside homes

because there was an important lack of hygiene that derived from having the wastes physically in the same place that people lived. Toilets would have never been feasible if plumbing had not been invented. The combination of these two great ideas has helped people develop even in the most adverse circumstances. “During the 1800s, people realized that poor sanitary conditions caused diseases. Having toilets and sewer systems that could control human waste became a priority to lawmakers, medical experts, inventors, and the general public.”2 The main advantages of toilets are that people can have a personal space in which to get rid of their body wastes and that those wastes do not stay in the same place that they live. An important aspect of toilets that is often disregarded is the fact that one goes alone to it. In places where a lot of people live together it is hard to find a moment in life that becomes of oneself. “We forge our own private spaces where it is necessary”. 3

1. http://www.victoriancrapper.com/Toilethistory.HTML 2. http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/Plumbing_3.htm 3. Norman, Donald A. El Diseño Emocional. Paidós. España 2004 p181

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