Staten Island Park Restroom Wins Prestigious Architecture Honor

On January 12, a US$3.8 million public restroom in Staten Island, New York, captured the spotlight by winning a coveted 2026 American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York Design Award.

The public restroom in Luis Lopez Playground was recognized for its modular construction and could serve as a model for future New York City facilities. As CMM reported earlier this month, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani launched a new program to expand access to public restrooms citywide, committing $4 million to the effort.

A jury of independent architects, educators, and planners from outside New York City selected the 2026 winners of the AIA New York Design Awards. Chosen from over 200 entries, the winning projects span scales and types, from cultural institutions and academic buildings to smaller interventions in public space. The facility was among 24 projects honored by the organization.

“We saw this project as taking on a challenge that many people have not solved for decades: How do you provide comfort, rest, and peace in a cost-effective, replicable way across many parks within a system?” asked Brie Hensold, a member of the voting jury, an honored member of American Society of Landscape Architects, and co-founder and principal of Agency Landscape + Planning. “This project considers the needs of caregivers, children, maintenance workers, and the unhoused community and offers a way for people to stay and linger and visit public spaces much longer than they could otherwise. This is proof-of-concept for a system that is modular and can be implemented across a much broader system that could inspire, not just here, but across the country.”

According to reporting from the Advance/SILive.com, the shipping container-like restroom was designed in 2021 and unveiled in 2024, and was the first of its kind in NYC. It was manufactured in three pieces at a Pennsylvania factory before it was transported and assembled on-site.

This public restroom was designed for NYC Parks as a pilot project using modular construction to deliver a more cost- and time-efficient result. The requirements were based on the current NYC Parks Standard Public Restroom Design for conventionally built restrooms with two restroom spaces and one maintenance and operations space.

Based on extensive research into modular construction and its key drivers, a design with optimized modules was developed to enable citywide delivery and installation. This modular design was reviewed and approved by the NYC Public Design Commission for use in other locations throughout New York City.

The color of the public restroom’s thin brick cladding will be adjusted to match the neighborhood and community it serves. Additionally, the modular design enables quick, affordable expansion of the public restroom supply.

NYC plans to build more modular restrooms, including a red, yellow, and orange version. The Parks Department intends to reconstruct 36 of its more than 700 comfort stations and add 46 new restrooms under its Better Bathrooms initiative.