Please Let's Not Let Open-Concept Bathrooms Become a Thing

Kristine Cannon
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Open bars, open kitchens, open-air markets: We’re open to many concepts. But open-concept bathrooms? One West Philadelphia real estate investor decided to remodel one of her rental homes to include an actual, functional bathroom — sans walls. And to that we say: “Burn it to the ground.”

The Philly home is marketed by the property’s owner and designer Kamara Abdur-Rahim as a “one-concept bathroom,” or, a bathroom with zero doors and only one small wall that separates the bathroom from the bedroom. According to the Chicago Tribune, the problematic bathroom is located in a private third-floor master suite, which is available for rent as its own unit. Those who rent the space, however, do have access to the kitchen, dining room, and living room on the floors below. In total, the home has three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms.

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“No one will be on that floor besides a single person or a couple,” Abdur-Rahim told the Inquirer, defending her decision to choose an open-plan bathroom and saying of the critics: “They’re not taking the entire house into consideration and the privacy of the third floor into consideration.”

The rental is available on Facebook Marketplace for $1,200 per month, including all utilities, Wi-Fi, and even a washer-dryer. It was listed on Facebook about two months ago.

“Philly is WILD this bathroom has NO DOORS and they’re calling it ‘open concept,’ @amelendez1996 tweeted. “Only the brave will poop while their friends are over and can see you.”

Sure, open-plan bathrooms aren’t a new concept. In 2013, it was a growing trend among luxury hotels overseas, like the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam.

“They do this all around the world,” Abdur-Rahim says “The idea is about making a space bigger, making it feel like you’re not stuck in one room. It’s easier to maneuver. It gives a different feel to the room.”

Open floor plans have become more popular among homeowners and home buyers, too. According to a 2016 survey by the National Association of Home Builders, 54 percent of builders said they are regularly designing homes with open floor plans.

And more recently, Elle Decor named open-concept designs one of its bathroom trends to watch in 2019.

“I think we’re coming away from the age of everything being boxy and being compartments and having these different sections,” she said. “It’s about to be 2020 — it’s OK for us to try new things and new concepts.”

But, let us be the ones to say: not this concept.

Aside from the obvious (stinking up the space, which, let’s be honest, is inevitable), bathrooms are also the perfect place to escape any madness happening around you. Need to take a break from your partner and zone out on your phone? Excuse yourself to the bathroom. Kids driving you nuts? Take 10 on the John with the door locked. It’s the one escape plan that has yet to fail us, and it’s exactly why open bathrooms should never, ever, ever become a thing.

Stay in Philly, open-concept bathroom. No one wants you.

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