Light Jackets

Light Jackets visually lightens San Francisco’s public restrooms, providing a flexible and easily customizable component providing additional light for both the interior and exterior setting. With this flexible approach, the jacket provides an opportunity to design a public interface commensurate with the evolution of the structures. JCDecaux / DPW have recognized opportunities for social engagement beyond the original aims of these structures. Functions such as outreach, hospitality, providing low-entry opportunities for businesses and organizations suggest these should be visually valuable as well as programmatically valuable contributors to the public realm. Bathrooms, especially, given their size and already added functions, could extend respite through seating / shelter and aid in wayfinding. Noting the emphasis on San Francisco’s unique qualities and natural beauty in the design documentation, we propose a metal or fiberglass skin perforated with reminders of the Bay Area’s natural splendors such as the fog, ocean and redwoods. By bringing these images to the sidewalk, the structures remind visitors and residents what makes San Francisco wonderful.