The Ottawa Convention Centre, which opened this year, is Canada’s newest meeting space. Its sophisticated ‘space-age’ style washrooms are quite a sight! Designers wanted to avoid one large bank of washrooms on each of four meeting floors, preferring to spread them out and place them where people expected washrooms to be. In order to accomplish this, the washrooms at the north end of Levels Two and Three are located inside a key design feature – the ‘orb’ – to maximize the use of space. These handicap accessible restrooms have no exterior doors leading in to the washrooms, which are accessed through curved entranceways. This prevents the spread of germs, as do the hands-free faucets. The curved entrances also keep light, odours and noise from escaping the washroom. The Ottawa Convention Centre uses a rainwater cistern located under the building to decrease water consumption by nearly 70%.