1908 – 1970
Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist who revolutionized our understanding of human motivation and potential. Best known for his Hierarchy of Needs, Maslow argued that human beings are motivated by a series of needs, starting with the most basic physiological requirements.
“What a man can be, he must be.” — Abraham Maslow
Maslow’s pyramid is simple yet profound. At the base are physiological needs: air, water, food, shelter, sleep—and yes, access to sanitation. Without these fundamentals, nothing else matters. You cannot pursue safety, love, esteem, or self-actualization if your most basic needs are unmet.
In 1943, when Maslow published his groundbreaking theory, he identified these physiological needs as the foundation upon which all human flourishing depends. Yet here we are, 80 years later, in one of the wealthiest cities in human history, and that foundation remains fractured.
New York City has 8 million people and only 1,100 public restrooms. That’s one restroom for every 7,000 residents.
When a nursing mother has nowhere to feed her child in privacy, when a person with Crohn’s disease must map their entire day around restroom access, when someone in a wheelchair cannot find an accessible facility—these are not minor inconveniences. These are failures at the base of Maslow’s pyramid.
So Maslow is building them — no crusade, no charity drive, just rooms held to the standard this city already expects everywhere else. Premium is the floor, not an upgrade.
We named this project after Abraham Maslow not as a gimmick, but as a commitment. If the first tier of human needs includes sanitation, then the first tier of urban infrastructure must include restrooms. Everything else—the culture, the innovation, the community—rests on that foundation.
Dr. Maslow showed us the pyramid. We’re building the base.