Sanitary Facilities: An Overview of Important Users’ Perceptions for Public Buildings

Sanitary facilities are essential spaces in any building type. Sanitary facilities in public buildings serve as ingress and egress for diverse users encompassing varying genders, ages, behaviours, cultures, and disabilities. Particularly Malaysians, who possess diverse backgrounds, faiths, ethnicities and beliefs. Sustainable construction and building practices have been used in recent years to lessen the impact on buildings, users and the environment. Sanitary fixtures in sanitary facilities have deteriorated, nonetheless, as a result of end users’ ignorance. This study offers an overview of sanitary facilities based on users’ perceptions in public buildings in Malaysia. The study necessitates a pilot and case studies utilising questionnaires for quantitative research methods and the discussions and interviews employing semi-structured questions for qualitative research methods. Both research methods involve the general public as well as experts who have used sanitary facilities and constructed public buildings. The findings from mixed research methodologies are pertinent not only to enhancing the general public’s experiences in sanitary facilities but also to professional institutions, requirements and other aspects concerning sustainable sanitary facilities in Malaysian public buildings. Additionally, additional details about the development of a new design model for gender-specific toilets and shared sanitary facilities for designers, as well as requirements from the perspectives of the general public and experts. Women spend twice as much time in sanitary facilities as men do. Hence, the present designs of female toilets are not suitable for them and deserve twice the number of sanitary fixtures as there are for male toilets. Here, the overview includes relevant information about important users’ perceptions of sanitary facilities in public buildings.