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John Lansing

@pipedreaming.bsky.social

1.9K followers 550 following 1.7K posts

Plumbing, building codes, engineering design guides, water and nutrient cycle, architecture, embodied carbon, development, cities, and the international variations of them all

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 5h

Drains are never metered (except in rare industrial cases) and gas meters are located outside so this would be referring to electrical meters most likely. Water meters inside are unlikely in older buildings like this.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 14h

Thank you!

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 15h

It’s easy to see the influence of Kongjian Yu’s work on this project.

Photos of Sponge City at Shenyang Jianzhu University. Photos show people walking along a boardwalk with high wetland grasses and looking into the water

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 15h

This reduces indoor water use by nearly half while managing stormwater.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 15h

Some diagrams of this system here.

Water treatment schematic showing equipment including a filters, pumps and tanks

Water treatment schematic showing equipment including a filters, pumps and tanks as well as ponds

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 15h

As water travels to the lower pond by gravity, water is pumped into the the small treatment system (ultrafiltration with UV) and processed to non-potable water quality standards, which is then used for the water supply to clothes washing machines and WC flushing in the neighborhood.

Water treatment system diagram through the glass of the building

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 15h

Stormwater is collected in wetlands near the housing, introducing wildlife and acting as an amenity with boardwalks.

Wetland with four story multifamily buildings wrapping around it

Wetlands with buildings in the background

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 15h

This reminds me of the recycled water treatment building in the Nye suburb of Aarhus, Denmark.

Photo of glass wall on an A-frame building near a pond with grass growing around it

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 16h

Just realized today marks one year since I started this account. 🎂

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · Oct 12

Hi all 👋 looks like I found where all the action is at

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 18h

Current mood in Portland

The inflatable frog with Vietnam dog meme with helicopters

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

The standalone bidet is such a fascinating fixture. It’s like a sanitary utility sink.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, this is standard.

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

I relate. We can blame US plumbing manufacturers for failing to introduce the European washdown WCs to comply with the 1992 EPAct, resulting in the worst flushing WCs ever produced. They would not abandon the siphonic-type WCs but thankfully they ended up figuring out how to make better ones.

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

It’s funny that this is odd yet putting an electrical outlet under the kitchen sink for a mini wood chipper is perfectly normal in the US and even considered an absolute must in many cases.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

The slowness of the big brands like Toto, Kohler, and American Standard to offer a decent range of these really opened the door to Brondell and Tushy capture this market. Brondell has always been good but they keep getting better.

Reposted by John Lansing

Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 1d

The Italian-style standalone bidets are the worst of the bidets, but are infinitely more civilized than not having one at all. And they (plus the window requirement) make the bathroom big enough that you can often chop one old-school Italian bathroom into two:

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

As much as I like the bidet seats with hot water, the hot water tank on the back of the seats are really bulky and I’m nearly certain that a majority of the energy used is just heat loss. I’d like to see more models eliminate the tank and just use cold water (which will likely be ~60°F).

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

I think these are the most logical and cost effective solution and also really easy to retrofit.

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

Sanitary drainage systems with bidets are functionally different yet they are designed the same.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

Based on current plumbing codes both in the US and abroad, it wouldn’t impact design at all, but should it? Less TP could allow for drains at shallower gradients, which could recoup losses from added electrical outlets and a second water supply stop at each WC.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

Wads of toilet paper are one of the primary sources of blockages in sanitary drainage systems, so a system installed with bidets would likely lessen the risk of blockages. How would this impact design?

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

This is an easy/low cost add during the building design phase but is almost never included except for very high end housing. The cutoff is generally around +$10 million for condos.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

the real constraint is you need to have an electrical outlet near a toilet, which is unusual imo

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

“It looks like the lid mechanism has failed, please hold while we dispatch a specialist technician.”

John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 1d

This issue along with the fact that bidets require larger bathrooms, are reasons the bidet/WC fixtures are much more common in new construction in many regions.

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John Lansing @pipedreaming.bsky.social · 2d

I found many examples of partition-less urinals in the UK but none as exaggerated as this installation in Glasgow.

Three urinals installed in close proximity to each other with one placed perpendicular to the other

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