Total Design and ADA in Restrooms: Free TOTO Webinar November 19

Good restroom design goes further than meeting code. On Thursday, November 19, at noon Central, Hailey Gurvis of TOTO presents Total Design and ADA in Restrooms, a one-hour webinar on how ADA compliance, universal design and WELL standards come together in spaces that work for everyone. It is free for ALA members and non-members, and it carries 1 AIA HSW CE hour.

What the hour covers

How restroom design affects the people who use a building, every day and at every age.

The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design as they apply to restrooms.

The difference between minimal accessible design, which meets the standard, and universal design, which works for the widest range of people without special adaptation.

How WELL certification criteria factor into healthier, more inclusive restrooms, and how restroom choices can earn WELL credits.

Your presenter

Hailey Gurvis is Senior Showroom Manager and A&D Consultant at TOTO Gallery Chicago, 500 N. Wells St. in River North. ALA members met her on October 16, when the YALA Showroom Crawl stopped at the gallery to try working WASHLET, NEOREST and Tornado Flush displays. You can reach her at hgurvis@toto.com to set up a gallery visit for your team or a client.

Why TOTO teaches this course

TOTO calls its approach Total Design: products that consider everyone's needs without added adaptation or specialization. The company opened its Universal Research Design Center in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, in 2006 to study how people of different ages and physical abilities use a bathroom, and it tests fixtures and layouts through home visits, usability studies, surveys and focus groups.

TOTO also runs a Universal Design Experience for design professionals. Participants put on gear that limits movement, hearing and vision, then try ordinary bathroom tasks. It is a quick way to feel how a grab bar placement, a seat height or a control location changes the room for someone else. The webinar brings the same thinking to the code and certification questions architects work through on every project.

Credits

1 AIA HSW CE Hour. 1 IDCEC HSW CEU. 1 ASPE CEH. 1 ADA, Barrier-Free and Accessibility hour. AIA members: enter your AIA number when you register so your hour can be reported to AIA. ALA members who attend have the credit added to their CEU Tracker.

Webinar details

Thursday, November 19, 2026, 12:00 to 1:00 PM Central, online. Free for ALA members and non-members. The course is sponsored by TOTO and offered to design professionals at no cost. Register once and the join link arrives by email.

Images courtesy of TOTO USA, except the TOTO Gallery Chicago photo, taken by ALA during the YALA Showroom Crawl.