What psychopath architects are still designing bathrooms that you have to pull the door open in order to leave?

Primary traffic routes during an emergency have priority. It is a hazard for doors to open into a hallway.

US based architect here: this is the correct answer
- Draftsman here, and yup. There's codes about this.

Inner doors should swing inward because in case of a fire or other emergency, you don't want to be trapped inside by something blocking the door that you cannot deal with. Even in something were preventing it from swinging open (like a rope or whatever), in theory the person could still get out because the door hinge would be located on their side and they could simply remove it.

Also because the hinge would have to be on the outside if swinging outward and thus not be securable. As the hung pins could be removed and door opened while locked.
- There are locking pins to secure outward swinging doors. Though fire and safety reasons are really why the doors swing the way they do.

We have outwards opening bathroom doors in the office and they're great for giving people concussions and bumps on their head, as well as knocking coffees out of people's hands. When we pass these doors in the hallway we put our hands up like our abusive dad went for a high five.

Your local Fire Marshall would like to know your location.
- TBH I want to know where they were when this building was built. Who came up with this and who allowed it?

I’m not an expert (at all), but I presume that opening a door into a thoroughfare risks hitting someone with the door but opening into a room only risks a person ready to leave (and approaching the door head on?)

Just thoughts…

One compromise might be touchless door handles

I've also seen these at my school, but it doesn't work for all doors since the door needs to be light enough

Neither of these are that accessible though, and I can't find photos of the better ones
- accessibility shouldn't prevent improvements, we can just add the foot handles and handicapped people simply keep operating doors like they currently do.
  
  They'll still be exposed to fewer germs so they benefit anyways.
- Or people could simply wash their damn hands...
- The arm one is dumb because I've seen people with unwashed hands grab it. The foot one makes more sense. Although it's not accessible like you said.
- I've seen something similar for your arm. It's larger and at arms length so you can use more of your body weight to pull it open
- I have actually seen these foot handles in a restaurant in Columbus, Ohio... pretty nice!

You reminded me of something I learned about back when I worked at Disney - most of the bathroom doors on property swing the way you're complaining about for reasons I can't remember but might be because you're supposed to have clean hands when exiting the bathroom (wash your damn hands!). But Disney's Animal Kingdom is different, because if an animal gets loose the bathrooms are designed to keep animals out, most animals are going to have trouble figuring out how to pull open the door to get into the bathroom. Good to know in case their new batch of cheetahs also figures out how to escape.

We need those cool and unnecessarily complicated sci-fi doors that open with multiple stages or like a camera aperture or a Stargate iris.

Fuck that. I want the swish sound sliding doors from the original series of trek.
- No. Every. Single. Door has an automated 30 second vault-like opening sequence.

Bathrooms with pull to open handle doors without paper towels are the worst.

Ones who want to make it less likely that people get barricaded into a bathroom.

Use a paper towel to grab the door handle so you don't have to touch it directly.

Or you could tear the Dyson hand dryer off the wall and carefully jimmy the door open with it
- Fuck those things.
- I like the way you think! Please tell me you run a commagazine with more wonderful tips and tricks like this :D
This is what I prefer to do, but more and more establishments nowadays are getting rid of paper towels in favor of hand dryers. So then I have to grab the handle barehanded. I try to use my shirt in those cases.

My favorite is bathrooms where you can stand at the urinal and make eye contact with people in the dining room everytime the door opens.

I believe it's to do with hand cleanliness. When you enter, you push the door as your hands are dirty (maybe shove it with your arm or something), then when you leave your hands are (supposed to be) clean so you pull the door as it's a nice clean handle to grab.

I don't get it either, but that's what I've heard as the reason.

So then we need saloon doors that swing both ways?
- Now I have this mental image of people coming in and out of the toilets triumphantly through saloon style doors after doing business
- I actually think this or just a double hinged *kitchen style" door is the best answer
If I'm sure about one thing, it's that people are disgusting. I'd much rather avoid touching the door after using the toilet when my hands are clean. And even in the case that the door is disgusting, you can wash your hands both before and after.

Someone might correct me, but if I remember correctly it's something to do with air flow as well

Thank you! Same exact thought, I was telling my friends this a while back, and they said I was making no sense

Architects are psychopaths. So most of them?

You just need to learn the Joe Rogan spinning sidekick.

That gets you in. How do you get back out?
- With the same move. But nobody will close the door at all after you're done.

Most bathrooms have foot pulls now, it's not a perfect solution for everyone but it's better than the alternative.

What's a foot pull? I'm imagining a floor-level hook that you either use to open the door or break your ankle with
- Prettmucexactlthat
- Yes. They're dumb.
Most? I do see them often but you definitely live in a different place than I do.
- Central Florida.
My shoes are smooth enough to make it impossible to get a grip on them. Not to mention trying to balance while pulling it. Some bathrooms have an arm pull, dobt know how hygienic it is.

I've only seen doorless toilets in large well ventilated spaces such as some train stations. I don't think that would go well inside a shopping mall or a restaurant

I got through most of the post/comments thinking this was about stall doors...
- Eh, it's unclear honestly. After reading some comments I realised op maybe meant the direction in which doors open, not the fact that you have to open doors. I don't know
- It isn't?

I just eat with dirty hands. No matter how hard I try to be clean I will always end up consuming filth one way or another so now I dont worry about it. I'll take a shit, not wash my hands and then pick up a slice of pizza no worries.

Ah. Living proof that people are fucking disgusting, in case anyone had any doubts.
That's right who cares about other people touching what you touch with your shit hands. Shouldn't be around you if they don't want that.
- Anything in public should be assumed to be dirty. If its not me fuckin it up someone else will.

Toilet doors should face outward, so you can save someone who's in distress inside.

And smash people outside in the face
- The moment your elderly mom has a stroke on the toilet, you'll look back at all the times you got the door in your face and be grateful. What a tiny price to pay for the life of your mother.
I can see this for a stall (think someone falling over and blocking the door, or one of those really tight bathroom stalls where you really have to shimmy to get yourself into the stall), a bathroom door itself not as much.