And so we say "Adieu" to the elegant French superloos

Green Finnish WCs to be leased in their place

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By Santtu Parkkonen
     
      C'est emmerdant! How inconvenient! The musical French automatic superloos in the capital have reached their journey's end. The still-functioning coin-operated French public conveniences, with their distinctive curved design, will be disappearing from the Helsinki landscape by the end of 2007.
      "Our requirements have changed over the years", explains Jyrki Määttänen, from the city of Helsinki's Public Works Department.
      The twenty or so French loos are to be replaced by between 15 and 18 Finnish High Gienic pay-toilets. The monthly rental payable on the basic model, including cleaning and maintenance, is EUR 1,806. For the disabled version, the rental rises to EUR 2,002.
      The first loos to be changed, apparently from the beginning of next year, are the pair that snuggle together close to the Market Square. They will be replaced by one of the new models.
     
The new public toilets are more angular and box-like in design, in the familiar "Helsinki green" livery, and have a stainless steel cladding. Each will have a separate "sitting-room" and pissoir facility in the same unit.
      The new toilets could hardly be called paragons of equality: the seated side opens up its doors for EUR 0.40, while the pissoir department has free admission.
      "On the other hand, the pissoir side considerably increases the efficiency of the device. In this way the other side is opened up for women, children, and the physically disabled."
      The WCs, which are manufactured in Uusikaupunki on the West Coast, are several times larger than their slim-line French predecessors.
     
"These new models are a good deal more difficult to place than the old ones. The French loos fit into the city streetscape so well that people do not even remember where they are", says Määttänen.
      The musical French Sanisettes have helped to relieve the bodily discomforts of Helsinki residents and tourists for nearly 20 years.
      They stopped playing tunes for customers shortly after their arrival, but their elegance has remained to this day. The most-frequented loos have been those at the corner of the market Square. Second on the popularity list has been the facility in Esplanaadi.
      When the Helsinki pay-toilet stock begins to "go Finnish" from the beginning of 2006, the word is that at least the public conveniences on Hauhontie in Vallila and at the entrance to the Aurora Hospital will not be replaced. You have been warned.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 22.10.2005

More on this subject:
 FACTFILE: A EUR 4.00 experience at a tenth of the price or less

Links:
  High Gienic
  All you need to know (and more) about the Sanisette (from Anthony Atkielski's pages)

SANTTU PARKKONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
santtu.parkkonen@hs.fi