By Becky Piel��

Restrooms may not be the first spaces that come to mind when planning new school construction or renovations, but they leave one of the most lasting impressions. For students, teachers, staff and visitors alike, restroom conditions shape how users perceive the overall quality, safety management and care of a school environment.��

Bradley Company’s 2025 , now in its 16th year, reveals that restroom quality strongly influences public perception:��

• 84% of Americans say a dirty or poorly stocked restroom damages their impression of a facility.��

• 75% would think twice before returning after a bad experience.��

• 71% are more likely to return when restrooms are clean and well-maintained.��

Unfortunately, schools ranked near the bottom of this year’s survey, alongside gas stations and drug stores. This finding underscores a major opportunity for school leaders: by improving restroom design and maintenance, districts can positively affect health, public image and community trust.��

Health and Hygiene Take Center Stage��

Post-pandemic, school design has evolved to reflect greater attention to hygiene. Handwashing habits, once overlooked, are now recognized as critical to preventing illness and absenteeism. The 2025 survey found that 80% of American adults wash their hands more frequently or thoroughly in response to seasonal virus outbreaks — a sharp increase from 45% in 2009.��

When it comes to children, however, parents remain skeptical: only 25% believe their kids always wash when told. Many parents admit to doing the same as children — nearly 60% confessed they once “cheated” by just running the water when told to wash.��

These behaviors have inspired architects and planners to create restrooms that make handwashing easier and more engaging. Touchless faucets, soap dispensers and hand dryers reduce germ transmission, while bright lighting, visible supplies and well-organized handwashing stations promote cleanliness.��

Restroom design now reflects a broader understanding of health — not just supporting hygiene but encouraging positive habits. By providing clean, touch-free and welcoming spaces, schools send a clear message that student wellness is a top priority.��

Designing for Durability and Maintenance Efficiency��

From elementary schools to college campuses, maintenance teams face a shared challenge: keeping high-traffic restrooms clean and operational with limited staff and budgets. Durable materials, vandal-resistant fixtures, and easy-to-maintain surfaces make a measurable difference in both longevity and operating costs.��

Designers increasingly specify seamless, nonporous lavatory decks made from sustainable materials such as solid surface or natural quartz, many of which are GREENGUARD-certified. Cast as one piece, these fixtures minimize crevices where dirt and bacteria collect. They’re also easy to clean and repair and built to last. Multi-user handwashing systems simplify plumbing and shorten installation time.��

Innovative top-fill and multi-feed soap systems further improve efficiency by allowing several dispensers to be refilled from one central hub — no crawling under counters or opening each unit individually. This saves maintenance time and keeps restrooms running smoothly, particularly in busy school environments.��

Ventilation and odor-control systems also play key roles in maintaining air quality and user satisfaction — two of the strongest drivers of positive restroom experiences identified in the Healthy Handwashing Survey.��

Touchless Technology: Easy to Use and Maintain��

Touchless fixtures — from faucets and flush valves to soap and towel dispensers — minimize contact points and simplify cleaning. With sensors integrated into the fixtures, there’s less opportunity for tampering or mechanical breakdowns. Nearly 80% of survey respondents now consider touchless fixtures essential rather than optional.��

All-in-one handwashing systems that combine touch-free soap, water and drying improve both hygiene and traffic flow, while reducing water mess on countertops and floors. This integration supports both user comfort and maintenance efficiency, providing an optimal balance between function and cleanliness.��

Inclusive Design for All Ages and Abilities��

Inclusivity has become another key design priority. Administrators are adopting layouts that balance privacy, safety and accessibility for all users. In many new schools, gender-neutral restrooms with fully enclosed stalls and shared handwashing areas are becoming common. These configurations enhance privacy, reduce wait times and improve overall user comfort.��

Fixtures designed for vandal resistance — including tamper-proof fasteners, reinforced partitions and shatter-resistant mirrors — help maintain long-term appearance and function. High-quality privacy partitions made from phenolic materials resist moisture, bacteria and graffiti, while full-height enclosures and thoughtful layouts improve inclusivity and security.��

Accessibility remains essential. Adjustable-height changing tables, ADA-compliant fixtures and generous turning space ensure restrooms accommodate students with physical disabilities or additional care needs.��

Integrating universal design early in the planning process helps avoid expensive retrofits later and ensures every student — from preschool to higher education — has access to safe, comfortable and dignified facilities. Inclusive restrooms also foster empathy and respect among students, reinforcing core school values.����

Sustainability and Long-Term Value��

Beyond hygiene and accessibility, sustainability is now central to school design. Low-flow plumbing fixtures, sensor-activated soap dispensers, and energy-efficient hand dryers help conserve resources and reduce waste.��

Material choices also matter. Recycled materials and surfaces, low-VOC finishes and corrosion-resistant metals contribute to healthier indoor environments and lower maintenance needs. Many of these materials are certified for sustainability and indoor air quality, aligning with or programs.��

Products that last longer and use fewer resources support both environmental goals and long-term budget efficiency. Sustainable restrooms also provide visible proof of a school’s commitment to responsible design and future generations.��

The Restroom as a Reflection of School Culture��

For all the practical benefits of effective restroom design — from hygiene to cost savings — there’s also a human story behind it. Students and parents interpret restroom conditions as reflections of how much the school cares. Clean, modern restrooms convey pride and respect; neglected ones suggest indifference and even mismanagement.��

Restrooms may occupy a small footprint in a school’s master plan, but their influence reaches far beyond the walls. When they’re clean, accessible and thoughtfully designed, they embody a school’s values: care, respect and commitment to student well-being.��

Becky Piel is National Business Development Manager – Education for Bradley Company.��

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Schools are considered high-risk environments for the transmission of infectious diseases due to the close and frequent contact that occurs among students and teachers. After the historic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, more schools are prioritizing public health in education.

Several studies and surveys have documented the presence of excessive bacterial burden in both high school and collegiate training room facilities. Athletic training rooms have a high prevalence of bacteria, including multidrug-resistant organisms, increasing the risk for both local and systematic infections in athletes. Adaptation of a hygiene protocol would lead to a reduction in bacterial and viral pathogen counts in these spaces, where close contact among athletes and, in the presence of poor hygiene and contamination, can predispose athletes to infection.

Despite the known potential for infection in the athletic training room, there remains a lack of knowledge among athletes, parents and athletic trainers about best practices to limit the spread of infection. To that end, schools are including advanced technologies such as ventilation, filtration, and lighting to help reduce infection-causing bacteria more safely, continuously and automatically.

Granite School District

Granite School District, located in the Salt Lake Valley, is the third-largest district in Utah and ranks among the largest public-school districts in the nation. Its boundary encompasses 257 square miles and includes 57 elementary schools, 15 junior high schools, eight high schools and other special schools and programs. With more than 60,000 students enrolled and aging school buildings dating over 100 years old, structural issues became a major challenge.

To address the problem of outdated and unsafe buildings, voters approved a $238-million bond in 2017 to fund the rebuilding and renovation of 31 schools over a 10-year period. In May 2019, the district announced plans to construct 21st century high schools to help students prepare for college and/or careers. Skyline and Cyprus High Schools, located in Millcreek and Magna, are included in the major strategic plans.

To provide equity between development of two different schools on different sites, architectural firms Fanning Howey, based in Indianapolis, and Naylor Wentworth Lund of Salt Lake City created a program focused on Granite School District’s central vision of flexibility, while allowing for customization at each site. The new facilities will have an emphasis on collaborative spaces, flexible learning environments, enhanced security and the ability to adapt to educational needs for decades to come.

Skyline High School, built in 1962, serves 2,156 students. Demolition and new construction is taking place in phases on the active campus, so students are not displaced. Construction began in November 2019 and is scheduled to end in December 2026.

Cyprus High School, with an enrollment of 2,650 students, opened its doors in 1918. The school is being rebuilt on a 60-acre location near Salt Lake Valley’s western foothills and is set to open in fall 2025. The district has worked with contractors for environmental remediation, geo-technical investigations and utilities planning. Construction was designed to take place in one continuous phase and began in November 2021.

Moving Forward

Over the course of several months, Fanning Howey and Naylor Wentworth Lund worked to redefine the district’s approach to high school education with similar plans for Skyline and Cyprus high schools.

“Early visioning and planning sessions involved district administrators as well as leaders and faculty from both schools, to build a common vision,” said Michael Hall, AIA, lead architect at Fanning Howey. “The design allows Granite [School District] to continue its departmental approach to high school education, but with an emphasis on next-generation learning.”

The resulting design creates flexible, open space at the center of each learning community. The team’s focus on flexibility continues in the athletic portions of the high schools. Instead of a traditional gymnasium, the design team created large fieldhouses with four courts, partitions and upper-level running tracks. Each high school will also have an eight-lane, 25-yard competition pool with seating for 500.

The schools’ athletic programs are an important part of their educational missions. Renovation plans include upgrades for the athletic program: new grass and turf fields, tennis courts, pool, stadium and baseball stadium as well as new athletics buildings at each of the high schools.

Added Technology Improves Health

A state-of-the-art athletics building constructed at Skyline High School was completed in late 2021, and a similar building is currently under construction at the new Cyprus High School campus. To help reduce the potential spread of infection, each athletic building includes disinfecting lighting that uses safe, visible light to kill harmful viruses and bacteria automatically and continuously in the air and on surfaces.

Quantum Lighting Group of Salt Lake City chose Indigo-Clean luminaires from Kenall Lighting to help protect students and staff against illness. Garrett Ledger, director of Specification Sales, Quantum Lighting Group, specified Indigo-Clean lighting, which employs blended white and indigo light, for its environmental disinfection system. Unlike ultraviolet light, Indigo-Clean luminaires are safe for room occupants.

“Indigo-Clean luminaires were selected to reduce bacteria and viruses in the new athletics buildings because the areas are more prone to these challenges,” said Ledger. “Ultimately, the lighting installation should help reduce the amount of illness in the schools. As a bonus beyond a reduction in bacteria, the district can anticipate low maintenance costs for the lighting because of the LED technology.”

The installation includes Indigo-Clean MLHA8 linear surface-mounted fixtures in locker rooms and pendant-mounted models in the weight room and wrestling room. Indigo-Clean HADL6 downlights were selected for the toilet stalls, dressing rooms and shower stalls. Indigo-Clean HASEDI recessed 1×4 fixtures will be installed in the cardio room.

“To complement the school’s forward-thinking design, we knew it was important to upgrade the lighting technology from what was in the previous athletic building. The Indigo-Clean luminaires provide bright illumination, and the sealed enclosure housing prevents harboring of bacteria inside the luminaires,” said Philip Borup, associate project manager, Envision Engineering.

Indigo-Clean lighting, a continuous disinfection technology, is patented and proven to kill harmful viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza-A, and bacteria linked to healthcare associated infections. Using a combination of 405nm Indigo and white LEDs, Indigo-Clean technology emits narrow-spectrum light that kills viruses and bacteria while providing ambient illumination.

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