Somewhere on the internet, you can spin a three-dimensional model of the restroom at Will’s Pub (Website) in Orlando, from the bright red walls down to the layers of graffiti and the flyers stuck on the door like a bulletin board.
The model is part of The Restroom Archive (Website), a website that catalogs 3D scans of public restrooms from around the world. The Will’s Pub entry, scanned on September 3 and uploaded by a contributor named Finn, is the only Orlando bathroom listed. Iconic.
The archive describes the restroom as being at the far end of the bar, directly across from the front door. The interior is dim, with bright red walls that are “heavily covered in graffiti.” Posters and ads are posted on the door. The entry is tagged Compact, Bar, Chaotic, Worn, Degraded, and Graffiti.
Will’s Pub, at 1042 N. Mills Avenue [GMap] in Orlando’s Mills 50 district, has been a fixture of the city’s indie music scene for about 30 years. It started as a tavern, became a music venue after its first anniversary party, and has hosted acts including The Decemberists and Fall Out Boy early in their careers.
The archive is the project of Jake Welch, a New York City freelance designer. Welch says it started as a joke when he scanned an IHOP restroom with friends, and became a way to capture local culture. He makes the scans with smartphone photogrammetry apps such as Polycam, which stitch hundreds of photos into a 3D model. The results include warped seams and strange artifacts on mirrors and shiny surfaces, which he likes.
The site is now open to public submissions. Welch vets each entry, checking that the scan is good, that it is not overly gross, and that no one trespassed or scanned a private residential restroom. People can scan restrooms with an iPhone Pro, whose LiDAR sensor helps, and upload them with a location and a short description.
The archive’s page lists about 210 entries from 14 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Turkey, China and Ireland. Visitors can browse by list, grid, or map and filter by tags such as Bar, Graffiti, and Museum.
Click HERE to visit the archive.
