Designed by the internationally acclaimed firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the Exchange House exemplifies how architectural innovation and engineering excellence can merge to create sustainable urban spaces.
The Exchange House restroom project required balancing the building’s bold, industrial aesthetic with the challenge of navigating complex technical constraints.
Restroom project brief
Due to the unique exposed steel framework beneath the vanity in the restroom, the client required a discreet and concealed soap feed solution that would allow easy access for refilling and minimize the risk of bacterial contamination in the soap.
The Dolphin DS800 Foam Soap Cartridge Multifeed System proved to be the ideal solution for this project. Its design offers exceptional flexibility, making it well-suited for a complex commercial restroom layout. The DS800 enclosed soap pipe system allows for straightforward maintenance, easy cleaning, and quick cartridge replacement, ensuring a durable, hygienic, and future-proof setup that met all aspects of the brief.
It was determined that the cleaner’s cupboard would be fitted with two DS800 Systems, with each unit supplying a dedicated run of wall-mounted soap dispensers to each adjacent restroom.
Restroom project challenge
Since the only viable space for housing the soap systems was the cleaners’ cupboard, positioned within the wall cavity between two adjacent restrooms, it posed a challenge due to its distance from the soap dispensers.
The DS800 is typically installed behind access panels, either beneath vanities or behind mirrors within the wall cavity. However, the combination of pre-selected fittings and the constraints of the architectural layout made a standard installation impractical in this case.
The Dolphin Solution
To solve this, Dolphin’s innovation team devised a creative solution: routing the soap feed from the DS800 in the cleaner’s cupboard, under the floor and into a wall cavity connected to an access panel. This allowed maintenance staff to service the unit discreetly and efficiently.
To validate the proposal, Dolphin’s innovation team created a full working mock-up of the design. This prototype ensured the feasibility of routing a single-piece soap pipe through a floor-level conduit into the cavity wall behind the mirror panels.
During installation, the underground pipework was carefully fixed into position and pressure-tested prior to being encased in concrete. All conduits were securely clamped and precisely curved to ensure smooth, unobstructed pipe feeding.
The DS800 uses sealed, single-use soap cartridges, effectively eliminating concerns around bacterial buildup. Unlike refillable soap containers, these commercial soap cartridges are designed to prevent contamination, ensuring consistently high hygiene standards and supporting compliance with the WELL Standard.
The restroom project result
The completed Exchange House restroom project, featuring an elegant Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) special finish on the commercial faucets and soap dispensers, now mirrors the sophistication and innovation of the building itself, combining architectural vision, cutting-edge functionality, and hygienic excellence.
By routing the soap feed through a conduit beneath the floor and into the wall cavity, the project achieved a forward-thinking restroom solution that upheld the building’s bold aesthetic while delivering long-term, sustainable performance through intelligent product integration and precise technical execution.
To ensure flawless execution of this project, Dolphin Solutions worked closely with the installation team, providing precise technical guidance to maintain both the integrity of the architectural design and the practical functionality of the commercial restroom system.
