‘Piss in peace’ is the tagline for the Urintrottoir, a recent addition to the streets of Paris that’s part urinal, part composter, part mini garden. City officials are hoping that offering these urinals right out in the open will be a viable way to get men to stop peeing all over everything in sight, especially at night when they’ve had a few drinks. It would be cool if our cities could smell a little nicer, guys.

The problem is, most of us don’t want to stare at urinals as we’re walking down the sidewalk. The Urintrottoir design attempts to find a way around that and make use of waste products at the same time, by making each unit into a planter full of herbs and flowers. The top bins contain straw and sawdust, which help break down the urine into relatively neutral-smelling soil for the plants.

Larger versions of the device could potentially absorb the urine of 600 people before needing to be emptied. Two smaller versions are currently located near the Gare de Lyon station in Paris, and if the test is successful (and men really do choose to pee in them instead of in alleys or in the doorways of shops,) additional units will be rolled out to other stations in France.

Some European cities already offer public ‘pissoirs’ that are considerably less decorative, but there’s not always a recycling component involved. This option makes lemonade out of lemons, so to speak (sorry, that metaphor is almost too perfect.) Now, if only there were similar options designed for people with different equipment.

A previous effort to prettify public urinals came in the form of a rose-tinted marble fountain by Portuguese architecture firm Bureau A, attempting to make public pissing into an artistic act.

Maybe it’s a little weird to stare at oversized images of whipped cream and cherries plastered onto the wall while you’re relieving yourself, but hey, at least it’s not the other way around. The Toilennale festival in Oita, Japan attempted to elevate public restroom facilities into cultural experiences by transforming them into art installations or holding events like poetry readings inside.

This particular installation, entitled ‘Melting Dream,’ looks like a gigantic cake – or perhaps an ice cream sundae – from outside (perhaps inspired by actual urinal cakes). Step inside and you’ll be confronted with murals of various sweet treats alongside cherry-red floors. Set adjacent to urinals mounted a wall, suddenly a sugary glaze dripping down fruit takes on a more ambiguous meaning.

If you’re feeling a little disconcerted by this combination of human biological urges, that’s the point. Artist Minako Nishiyama notes that the people of Japan are going about their daily lives as if nothing changed after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. “The concept of the piece is that Japan, the sweet country of ambiguity, is beginning to crumble.”

15 other public restroom transformations included ‘gonzo performance,’ private poetry readings inside stalls, a celebration of toilet graffiti and “an odd recital given by the ‘Zombie,’ an automatic performance machine that plays the recorder.” The facilities remained open for their usual purpose throughout the festival, which opened in July and ran through September 23rd. The next Toilennale is scheduled for 2017.

This giant hunk of pink marble in the middle of a Zurich car park isn’t a sculpture, exactly; it’s a place to relieve yourself in the open air so you don’t go stinking up the city. So-called ‘pissoirs’ can be found all over Europe, ranging from ornate Victorian designs resembling gazebos to portable plastic contraptions to cylindrical urinals that actually retract into the ground. Portuguese architecture firm Bureau A’s version, standing in the middle of a parking lot, looks like modern art.

From the rose tint of the high-end marble imported from Lisbon to the LED light advertising its presence after dark, this thing doesn’t look anything like what most of us would identify as a urinal. “In the form of a noble fountain, a classical figure of occidental culture, Lisbon sends a solid salute to rich Zurich,” say the designers.

Indeed, streams of water pour down the marble faces to whisk away foul-smelling excretions, which pour from a spout directly into a pothole planted with pebbles and grasses. The classically-influenced design pays tribute to adjacent historical attractions and acknowledges the fact that such facilities are required in order to keep the city clean.

Of course, there’s one big problem with such pissoirs, even fancy ones like this: they’re only for men. While Copenhagen studio UiWE designed some efficient-looking urinals for women (pictured above), they’ve yet to catch on in any real way, forcing anyone who can’t use a conventional urinal to mad dash it around the city looking for accessible restrooms when they have to go.

The ultimate fixer-upper, real estate rarely looks so unpromising as this London dump did – thankfully, one architect saw potential beyond these potties, despite the place truly looking like shi… well, er, bad. In the end, the before-and-after shots speak for themselves – few buildings can boast such total turnarounds, converting crappy ruins into shining tur…, er, digs.

Located under the Crystal Palace Parade, these lavatories constitute just 600 square feet of space – not much by the standards of some cities but relative huge for England’s densely-packed capital.

Located by architect Laura Clark after just finishing up at the Glasgow School of Art, the strange site seemed a perfect challenge for an aspiring architectural designer wanting to take up residence in London.

At the intersection of various municipalities and built nearly a century ago, getting approvals turned out to be painfully difficult – even establishing who owned the property proved problematic. Eventually, though, it went up for sale and she was able to secure and start working to convert it.

The results of her efforts: a compelling home constructed for under 65,000 Pounds (around $100,000 USD), surprisingly open, spacious and light-filled compared to its cavernous original state. Along the way, the architect was able to reuse some old materials in the new construction and save some existing walls as well.