Here’s a kind of project we don’t frequently see a lot of…a public bathroom facility. Shuichiro Yoshida, a Tokyo based architect, designed lavatories housed on less than 9m2 of ground space in Chikusei City. The site is a historic storage building, (one of the few still standing after the WWII), and a volunteer group obtained the ownership of the building to use as their activity base for “discovering the region-specific historical and cultural heritages.” Yoshia was asked to add lavatories for visitors and staff (as there are none within the building). Faced with such a small area of land to provide facilities for both men and women, the bathrooms are, in fact, an elegant addition to the main building. Due to the small footprint, the bathrooms maintain an open feeling because they are open to a high ceiling with exposed timber supports. The lavatories are seen as a way to not only preserve the region-specific landscape but also to create new landscape for the future. The exterior is clad in elastic plasterer finish while the interior walls are finished in a white material known as “Shikkui” which has humid conditioning and fire prevention.
More images after the break.