Wall · 墙 

APPROACH

Designs of Public Toilets today are driven by efficiency and international standards to meet our basic needs, forgoing the user experience. This limits the attempt of designing a toilet to only the ornamentation of its outer shell, exhibiting the designer’s ego. The most private area in the public space, the Wall is the only element that keeps them apart.

 

DESIGN

We took the wall and extend its function as a space divider to a space framing device. Using the wall as a tool to engage and integrate the toilet together with its geographical and programmatic context. The wall expands and contracts to form new private and public spaces, contributing to the public not only as a supporting function but also a destination. Celebrating the identity of Yong Chuan district known for its sublime bamboo forest, a bamboo screen is proposed to form the Wall for our design. Its low-cost, durable and easy maintenance makes it an ideal material. Bamboo planks tightly tied together protects privacy yet allows natural ventilation to reduce odour. They sit firmly on a gutter that collects rainwater to be recycled for rinsing and cleaning of the toilet. The malleability of bamboo screens allows our design of the public toilets to react adaptively to any context.

 

SITE

The given sites were identified and categorised into four typologies based on its geographical characteristics; Forest, Urban, Waterfront and Open-Field. We then developed design strategies for each of the four site typologies, using our designed bamboo wall to create public toilets that integrate and engage with their surroundings.

 

Our design creates a new threshold between public toilets and its surroundings, transforming walls that were once an enclosed cell-like public toilet into a new form of public space.