It’s both a hazard for emergencies as well as a hygienic nightmare. We all see the people leaving without washing their hands!
Primary traffic routes during an emergency have priority. It is a hazard for doors to open into a hallway.
US based architect here: this is the correct answer
Draftsman here, and yup. There’s codes about this.
Inner doors should swing inward because in case of a fire or other emergency, you don’t want to be trapped inside by something blocking the door that you cannot deal with. Even in something were preventing it from swinging open (like a rope or whatever), in theory the person could still get out because the door hinge would be located on their side and they could simply remove it.
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Also because the hinge would have to be on the outside if swinging outward and thus not be securable. As the hung pins could be removed and door opened while locked.
There are locking pins to secure outward swinging doors. Though fire and safety reasons are really why the doors swing the way they do.
In large building some code requires exterior doors to swing out as pressure build on a fire could jam the door closed. Also some exits require push bar which is swing out.
The in swing though makes sense for more smaller buildings and internal doors. Not wacking people and not getting blocked in seems the better method.
We have outwards opening bathroom doors in the office and they’re great for giving people concussions and bumps on their head, as well as knocking coffees out of people’s hands. When we pass these doors in the hallway we put our hands up like our abusive dad went for a high five.
Your local Fire Marshall would like to know your location.
TBH I want to know where they were when this building was built. Who came up with this and who allowed it?
if its an older building it may have been built before those laws and then grandfathered in (which is bullshit)
Nope, it was built within the last 10 years. I don’t know what Danish building codes are like but these are definitely built different from everywhere else I’ve been in Denmark
OP you clearly have no clue what you are talking about. Safety if number one reason, slamming the open-door in people walking outside the door is another. You can defend against someone forcing their way in, by using your body weight against door, something you can not do if it swings outward. Odor control is another issue, door swing outward will release the smell into next room, rather than contain it with the swing inward. Finally, this has nothing to do with architects or interior designer, this is a building code bylaw, as accessibility demand the door swing inward for people in a wheelchair so they can operate it.
slamming the open-door in people walking outside the door is another.
That might be true in a small shop, but in a lot of places the bathrooms are recessed into a hallway where nobody who isn’t trying to get into or leave the bathroom should be standing.
You can defend against someone forcing their way in, by using your body weight against door, something you can not do if it swings outward.
Is that really a concern…? The amount of conditions that have to be true for this to become a thing seems really long… boarding on the “your insurance policy covers you if an elephant falls through the roof on the first day of February” cartoon levels of specificity.
Not to mention if you assume a truck stop instead of a restaurant. It might be harder to use your body weight to keep a door closed, but with a proper door frame, deadbolt, and security hinges, it would be basically impossible for some hypothetical attacker to break down the door.
Odor control is another issue, door swing outward will release the smell into next room, rather than contain it with the swing inward.
Um, no it won’t? This is actually backwards the pivot of a door that swings back into a room, will force air out of a room with it swings out. If it swings out, when it closes it’s going to push air back towards the room.
In either case, I’d expect basically no observable impact on the amount of perceivable smell.
accessibility demand the door swing inward for people in a wheelchair so they can operate it.
They still have to get out…? It’s not our handicapped folks are getting stuck in bathrooms are they? And if they are, wouldn’t that be a reason to change this?
this is a building code bylaw,
I’m struggling with the rational
I’m struggling with the rational
Fire codes. There’s laws about this. You can’t have doors swinging into a walkway whether it’s a bathroom door or office door.
That surely doesn’t apply to the situations I discussed above where the bathrooms are recessed (and/or just generally wouldn’t be blocking anything if the door was open).
No, it doesn’t apply to the situation thay only you were talking about.
I’m not an expert (at all), but I presume that opening a door into a thoroughfare risks hitting someone with the door but opening into a room only risks a person ready to leave (and approaching the door head on?)
Just thoughts…
One compromise might be touchless door handles
I’ve also seen these at my school, but it doesn’t work for all doors since the door needs to be light enough
Neither of these are that accessible though, and I can’t find photos of the better ones
accessibility shouldn’t prevent improvements, we can just add the foot handles and handicapped people simply keep operating doors like they currently do.
They’ll still be exposed to fewer germs so they benefit anyways.
That’s fair, both options can exist at the same time in this case
Or people could simply wash their damn hands…
Have you met people? They don’t do that.
I’ve seen something similar for your arm. It’s larger and at arms length so you can use more of your body weight to pull it open
The arm one is dumb because I’ve seen people with unwashed hands grab it. The foot one makes more sense. Although it’s not accessible like you said.
The arm one is dumb because I’ve seen people with unwashed hands grab it
So? If I can manipulate it with my sleeved arm (thus keeping my hands clean), it’s still working pretty well. Sure, I’d prefer not to have my sleeve contact something that someone’s unwashed hands have been on, but better that than my hand.
I have actually seen these foot handles in a restaurant in Columbus, Ohio… pretty nice!
You reminded me of something I learned about back when I worked at Disney - most of the bathroom doors on property swing the way you’re complaining about for reasons I can’t remember but might be because you’re supposed to have clean hands when exiting the bathroom (wash your damn hands!). But Disney’s Animal Kingdom is different, because if an animal gets loose the bathrooms are designed to keep animals out, most animals are going to have trouble figuring out how to pull open the door to get into the bathroom. Good to know in case their new batch of cheetahs also figures out how to escape.
We need those cool and unnecessarily complicated sci-fi doors that open with multiple stages or like a camera aperture or a Stargate iris.
Fuck that. I want the swish sound sliding doors from the original series of trek.
No. Every. Single. Door has an automated 30 second vault-like opening sequence.
Yes, this every time you go to the bathroom.
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I want the doors from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that make a sigh sound when they open.
Bathrooms with pull to open handle doors without paper towels are the worst.
Ones who want to make it less likely that people get barricaded into a bathroom.
I can’t imagine being one of those people that freak out over the littlest thing. I always imagine invader Zim when he learns about germs.
My favorite is bathrooms where you can stand at the urinal and make eye contact with people in the dining room everytime the door opens.
asserting dominance
Use a paper towel to grab the door handle so you don’t have to touch it directly.
Or you could tear the Dyson hand dryer off the wall and carefully jimmy the door open with it
Fuck those things.
I like the way you think! Please tell me you run a commagazine with more wonderful tips and tricks like this :D
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This is what I prefer to do, but more and more establishments nowadays are getting rid of paper towels in favor of hand dryers. So then I have to grab the handle barehanded. I try to use my shirt in those cases.
I believe it’s to do with hand cleanliness. When you enter, you push the door as your hands are dirty (maybe shove it with your arm or something), then when you leave your hands are (supposed to be) clean so you pull the door as it’s a nice clean handle to grab.
I don’t get it either, but that’s what I’ve heard as the reason.
So then we need saloon doors that swing both ways?
I actually think this or just a double hinged *kitchen style" door is the best answer
or use some kind of baffle
If I’m sure about one thing, it’s that people are disgusting. I’d much rather avoid touching the door after using the toilet when my hands are clean. And even in the case that the door is disgusting, you can wash your hands both before and after.
Thank you! Same exact thought, I was telling my friends this a while back, and they said I was making no sense
Someone might correct me, but if I remember correctly it’s something to do with air flow as well
