Photo courtesy Sloan
Located just 16 km (10 mi) from downtown Los Angeles, the Pasadena Convention Center is a premier meeting and events venue nestled in the heart of Pasadena, California. Built in 1931, the nearly 50-year-old conference center building was in need of some upgrades—including the restrooms. The solution was a full suite of touch-free products, such as sinks, faucets, soap dispensers, hand dryers, and sensor flushometers for water closets and urinals.
The original structure, then called the Pasadena Civic Auditorium was erected in 1932. In the 1970s, the Pasadena Center was built around the historic auditorium, and included a conference center with meeting rooms, an exhibit hall, and ballroom building with bigger spaces to accommodate trade shows and large banquets. The current 12,077-m2 (130,000-sf) facility is home to events and conferences of all sizes.
At the end of 2019, the conference center building required major improvements. With a high volume of restroom traffic, the convention center wanted its new restrooms to leave a lasting impression on its guests and ease the burden on the facility’s maintenance team.
Do-it-all sinks
Pasadena Convention Center was interested in an all-in-one handwashing solution, which led them to specify integrated sink systems throughout the building. With a faucet, soap dispenser, and hand dryer all designed to work together as one touch-free system within arm’s reach, the sink system mitigates water spilling that would otherwise come with walking to the hand dryer with wet hands. Not only is this helping the convention center’s maintenance team, but also making the restroom a safer environment with reduced risk of slips and falls. While the polished chrome faucets, soap dispensers, and hand dryers deliver a sleek esthetic in their own right, Pasadena Convention Center wanted to make their sink basins stand apart. That is why they added a blue light-emitting diode (LED) light in the sinks to provide users with an unforgettable handwashing experience.
Keeping the restroom clean
When it came to the flushometers on its water closets and urinals, the Pasadena Convention Center wanted efficient and easy-to-repair products that would conserve water while continuing to support its maintenance team. The new fixtures delivered just that. The convention center specified sensor flushometers on both its water closets and urinals. Solar-powered and battery-operated, the flushometers feature a user-friendly three-second flush delay. The flushometers were paired with wall-mounted water closets and six designer washdown urinals. To keep the fixtures sparkling clean and easier for the maintenance team to service, the Pasadena Convention Center also specified hydrophobic glaze. This proprietary glaze imparts permanent hydrophobic (water-repellent) and oleophobic (oil-repellent) properties to vitreous china to inhibit the growth of germs and bacteria and make the fixtures easier to clean.
