I shit you not: Engineering Research Center
I’ve been spending more and more time in Barus and Holley for classes, clubs, and whatnot. The cinderblock walls stare at me for hours upon hours and the bricks in Lecture Hall 168 haunt my dreams as I trudge out of the old area and into the beautiful Engineering Resource Center. This is the place where dreams are born. This is the place that has the best hot chocolate that will warm your heart in the dead of winter. Barus and Holley is the sad and lonely person science turns you into, but the ERC is the young, inspired you, fresh out of the science womb.
When I first walked into the ERC, I was scared away by all the students sitting at the tables. One day, I joined the students, grabbed a cup of hot chocolate, and sat down to do my work. I was satisfied with the space and came back a few times after. But I never stayed long enough to need to go to the bathroom. Only after class and a work session in a study lounge in the ERC did I suddenly feel the urge to find a toilet.
I’d been told about a beautiful bathroom in this part of the building. There was apparently a set of single-user gender inclusive bathrooms in the basement, just slightly hidden away from the public, but open to anyone who was looking for it.
There’s a couple ways you can get to this bathroom. You can either directly get to the basement by going through the south entrance on Brook St., or go through the first floor and go downstairs.
There was a stunning amount of colors in the hallway from the south door, much more than the entirety of Barus and Holley combined.
I walked down the hall and came across a set of tables outside of a fishbowl-style robotics laboratory, intersecting with the line of sight from the first floor stairwell. Tucked around the corner were the bathrooms.
This corner hall led me to this mosaic. I’m a little confused about what it’s supposed to be, but I can appreciate the primary colors and the green. If you squint you can probably make out something. Did I fail a disguised Rorschach test?
There were two bathrooms, mirror images of each other, and it was up to me to choose which bathroom I was going to take. Which bathroom was more shitworthy? What if the bathroom I chose determined how I died twenty years later? Would the toilet of the other bathroom come to life and drown me in its bowl? That wouldn’t be a fun way to go. I ultimately went with the bathroom on my right.
But another thing perplexed me. What was that symbol next to the zooming wheelchair person on the bathroom sign? A wilting flower? I looked a little closer and realized it was a shower head. But why…? I simply shut my mouth and entered the bathroom (through the ginormous door) and allowed it to speak for itself.
Cool blue tiles lined the wall, similar to the way RISD’s bathroom was (though the tiles didn’t cover the floor like RISD’s bathroom did). It was sleek and open, with no smell of urine or feces. I was happy about the amount of space this bathroom gave. Big shoutout to the accessibility railings. I have a little concern about the super low toilet paper holder, but as someone who’s short and has had trouble reaching for everything all my life, I decided I didn’t care about tall people in this one instance. It’s one-ply toilet paper anyways, so you tall people really aren’t missing much.
But I turned to the left and there, my questions about the sign were answered. Carved into the wall, there was a giant shower available, with a shower seat as well.
This shower is literally bigger and nicer than any of the communal showers I’ve ever used in the dormitories here. And I lived in the “Hotel Andrews.” Heck, I live in New Dorm now and I think this shower looks nicer. (I won't complain about my dorm though. I love it so much.). I shit you not, I would’ve taken a shower right then and there if I had my toiletries. There’s even two shower heads if you prefer showering hands-free.
The toilet was like any decent toilet on campus. It was clean, which was a plus, though when I actually sat down on the seat, I realized that the sink and the mirror were directly across from me. I could literally see myself shitting. Mostly my torso, but I really don’t want to know what I look like when I’m pooping.
It was a nice change from the grody bathrooms in Barus and Holley. And since it was single stall, I didn’t feel the pressure of worrying about whether or not people could hear or see me, like I do when I use a multi-stall bathroom.
It is a little sad that there need to be showers in the engineering building, but it’s kind of nice that it’s an option. It’s open to both the sad and smelly engineers who stay here way too long and those who want to take a shower fully clothed for the shits and giggles. I give my blessing to this bathroom, and I know I’ll find myself back here again.
Images via MJ Lee '22
