On World Toilet Day, JCDeco highlights “AmeniPODS” in San Francisco, Award-winning, efficient self-cleaning public toilets
Paris, November 16y2023 – GC Deco SE (Euronext Paris: DEC), the world’s number one outdoor advertising company, announces that its new public restrooms in San Francisco, known as “AmeniPODS,” are reshaping the face of the city with more efficient and effective models and award-winning design, following the first installation a year ago.
A new generation of public facilities in San Francisco.
As the inventor, designer and operator of fully accessible self-cleaning restrooms in San Francisco, JCDecaux recognizes that public restrooms are an indispensable service, designed to improve the quality of urban life for the general public and visitors to the city. While operating and maintaining public restroom facilities is a great responsibility, it has also been a pleasure to serve the public for many years. Through close collaboration with the City and County of San Francisco and the SmithGroup team, JCDecaux has developed a unique, award-winning, high-tech design that reflects the vibrant streets of San Francisco. JCDecaux’s maintenance team is dedicated to ensuring these essential janitorial services remain safe, clean, and available to everyone. The program is funded through advertising revenue generated by multi-function advertising kiosks.
Award-winning design from SmithGroup.
Smith Group, a national design firm with a strong office in San Francisco, was chosen to redesign the public restrooms and multi-function advertising kiosks. The contemporary and elegant design, developed in partnership with JCDecaux, then reviewed and approved by the San Francisco Arts Commission and the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, has received notable awards over the past few months:
- Metropolis – Planet Positive Awards 2023 – Innovation Category – Best Social Impact: AmeniPODS have been selected to win Metropolis’s Planet Positive Awards, affirming the progress made towards designing a sustainable and just future and creating an inclusive environment.
- Fast company – Innovation by Design Awards 2023 – Urban Design Category: San Francisco Public Restrooms has been selected as a finalist in this prestigious program that celebrates designers and companies who are solving today’s most important problems and anticipating the pressing issues of tomorrow.
- Metal Architecture – Metal Architecture Design Awards 2023: The new generation of public facilities has won the judges’ award at the 2023 Metal Architecture Design Awards for being cleaner, safer, more durable and visually appealing, and designed to meet the needs of 21 peoplestreet Urban environment in the century.
JCDecaux: Over 40 years of innovation in self-cleaning public toilets.
Since JCDecaux installed the first self-cleaning toilets in Paris in 1981, the company has been constantly innovating by developing an integrated ecosystem. The group creates environmentally friendly, high-performance furniture that integrates patented solutions (automatic toilet washing and disinfection), stringent processes and integrated teams dedicated to operations and maintenance, providing high-quality service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The JCDecaux design office, based in Plaisir, Les Yvelines (France), is constantly developing new features to make life easier for the city’s residents and visitors, and more accessible to everyone. In 1993, the self-cleaning toilet became available for people with limited mobility. Audio instructions were provided in several languages, as well as in Braille. In 2006, the service became free in Paris, leading to a significant increase in usage. In 2020, JCDecaux developed a urinal unit that can be added to an existing toilet. This increases the availability of the main toilet while significantly increasing its daily capacity. After the first lockdown, drinking water fountains and hand sanitizer dispensers were installed outside self-cleaning toilets, turning them into multi-service hygiene points, unlike anywhere else in today’s urban environment.
JCDecaux operates more than 2,500 self-cleaning toilets in 28 countries, used by approximately 31 million people each year, including the world’s two largest automatic public toilet contracts:
- In Paris, a new generation of 435 public self-cleaning toilets, which will be rolled out between 2024 and the beginning of 2025, will increase access to service in the capital making it the largest network of public self-cleaning toilets in any city in the world. ,
- In Berlin, in 2018 the group won the second largest contract for automatic public toilets in the world and today operates 278 new generation toilets in the German capital.
JCDecaux’s street furniture and associated services are designed to evolve with its environment and needs and form an integral part of the global urban landscape.
Bill Katz, Design Director, SmithGroupHe said: “AmeniPODS are unique to San Francisco, with a design that blends sculpture and technology to create a cleaner, safer and healthier experience. With their stainless steel surface, they literally reflect our city’s diverse neighborhoods and their deep history while crafting sculptural street furniture. And with a clear awareness of the importance of this Public Facilities In our urban environment, the Smith Group team set out to make updated street furniture items more accessible through their design and appearance.
J.-François Nyon, Chief Operating Officer, JCDecaux San FranciscoHe said: “We are excited to work collaboratively with both San Francisco Public Works and the project team from SmithGroup. Together we have developed the next generation of street amenities that will better serve San Franciscans and visitors alike, supported by a robust maintenance program. Since installing the first AmeniPODS In November 2022, more than 21,000 flow units were registered and all the old units will be replaced in the next few years.
Jean-François Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecauxHe said: “When JCDecaux invented self-cleaning toilets in 1980, it demonstrated the company’s vision, pioneering approach and, most importantly, began a revolution in access to urban hygiene facilities. We’re proud to reiterate our long-standing commitment to San Francisco to provide best-in-class public restroom facilities, and the awards demonstrate the importance of their presence in the city. Our continued innovation is empowering cities around the world to address the challenges of providing access to safe sanitation and hygiene – a basic human right highlighted on World Toilet Day 2023 on 19y November. Across the world, we must continue our efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6, which is to ensure access to clean water and sanitation by 2030, which includes universal access to safe toilets.
About Smith Group
SmithGroup (www.smithgroup.com/) is one of the world’s leading integrated design firms. Working across a network of 20 offices in the United States and China, the team of 1,300 experts is committed to excellence in strategy, design and execution. The company’s scale thinking and organization result in partnerships with forward-looking clients that maximize opportunity, reduce risk and solve their most complex problems. SmithGroup creates exceptional design solutions for cultural institutions and higher education, science and technology organizations, healthcare, urban environments, diverse workplaces, mixed-use developments, waterfronts, parks and open spaces.
About JCDecaux
JCDecaux – a French family-owned company founded in 1964 and the #1 outdoor advertising company worldwide – is committed to improving the quality of life for people wherever they live, work and travel by providing innovative and sustainable street furniture and services that meet their needs. Citizens’ expectations are financed by brands and their advertising. With a presence in more than 80 countries, JCDecaux is the only company in the world that operates exclusively in the outdoor advertising sector and develops all its activities: street furniture, transport advertising and billboards. For nearly 60 years, the products and services JCDecaux provides to cities have been the standard for quality, aesthetics and functionality. As a sustainable media reaching more than 850 million people every day and committed to its mission of improving the quality of life for all citizens, JCDecaux promotes and promotes responsible outdoor advertising and puts social and environmental quality at the heart of its solutions and plans. a job. Since 2023, JCDecaux has been an official partner of the United Nations Joint Fund for Sustainable Development Goals, supporting the Sustainable Development Goals across its portfolio.
For more information about JCDecaux, please visit the website jcdecaux.com.
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Communications Department: Albert Aseraf
+33 (0) 1 30 79 79 10 – albert.asseraf@jcdecaux.com
Investor relations: Remy Grissard
+33 (0) 1 30 79 79 93 – remi.grisard@jcdecaux.com
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