At first glance, the concept sounds absurd and maybe even inappropriate. How can a public restroom, which should be a small refuge of privacy, have transparent walls? The surprising answer comes from the firm of Japan’s Shigeru Ban, winner of the Pritzker Prize among other honours. “There are two things that concern people when they enter a public toilet, especially one located in a park,” explain the project’s designers on the website for the toilets. “The first is cleanliness, and the second, when someone is inside using the toilet, is privacy.” Transparent walls speak to the first concern, allowing people outside to judge the cleanliness of the toilet before deciding the enter. When it came to assuring privacy, the designers had to find a way to make the transparent walls become opaque when someone was using the toilet. And this is where the genius of Shigeru Ban comes in.
The public toilets that Shigeru Ban designed for Tokyo, seen here in a warm range of colours.
Ryosei WatanabeHigh Design meets Flawless Functionalism
Located in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Fukamachi and Haru-no-Ogawa Parks, the blue and orange toilets appear like beacons in the night. They “illuminate the park like magnificent lanterns,” in the words of the design team. While they take on an especially magical appearance glowing at night, they can be spotted by passers-by at every hour of the day thanks to their striking design. Their coloured glass walls are not only stylish but functional as well, allowing users to check whether the toilet is occupied before entering and get a sense of how clean it is from the outside. Once the door is locked, however, an ingenious system is activated. “Thanks to the latest technology, the exterior glass becomes opaque when the door is locked.” Another functional feature of these toilets is that they are divided into three different spaces, with ones reserved respectively for women, men and people with reduced mobility.
AloJapan.com