The Tokyo Toilet Project just this month cut the tape on newly installed toilets at two parks in Tokyo’s Shibuya district.
(Satoshi Nagare // The Nippon Foundation)
Despite appearances, these trans-loosen public toilets are not made voyeuristic.
CAYMAN ISLANDS HAS NOT ALLOWED CROSS POINTS FOR THE REST OF 2020
The Tokyo Toilet Project just this month cut the tape on newly installed toilets at two parks in Tokyo’s Shibuya district. The stained glass washbasins are cleverly designed to be transparent when not occupied – so potential users can confirm that they are empty and clean – but turn deep when the door is locked internally.
“There are two things we worry about when we go to a public toilet, especially those sitting in a park. The first is beauty, and the second is when there’s someone inside, ‘wrote the restroom designer, award-winning architect Pritzker and Tokyo resident Shigeru Ban, on the Toilet Project’s website.
As a bonus, the bathrooms also put on the show: “At night, the facility lights up the park like a beautiful lantern.”
(Satoshi Nagare // The Nippon Foundation)
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
As a bonus, the bathrooms also put on quite a show: “At night, the facility lights up the park like a beautiful lantern,” Ban wrote.
In addition to the installation of Ban, the Toilet Project commissioned 15 other makers to build innovative fresh designs for public bathrooms around the city. One proposal from the creator describes an “ambiguous space”, consisting of 15 randomly combined concrete walls, with two genders and one gut with gender in the spaces there – not ideal for those moments when you just have to go, but still aesthetically pleasing .
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS
The stained glass washbasins are cleverly designed to be transparent when not occupied – so potential users can confirm that they are empty and clean – but turn deep when the door is locked internally.
(Satoshi Nagare // The Nippon Foundation)
Another proposal is remarkably inspired by Origata’s traditional Japanese decorative packaging method, and includes a bright red building with individual, angular toilet entrances. A third, named ‘Squid Toilet’, is fitted with a unique, ‘cheerful’ roof.
While Japan has an international reputation for cleaning, local people maintain a stigma for public toilets, and facilities are underused as a result, wrote the nonprofit that launched the Tokyo Toilet Project. By getting well-known designers to re-imagine the space, the nonprofit hopes it can dispel these “misunderstandings” that public restrooms are “dark, dirty, smelly and scary.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Meanwhile, in New York City, a shortage of public bathrooms combined with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic recently caused a spike in public urination.
