In August 2020, the "Tokyo Toilet" project received a lot of attention with the appearance of 2 see-through toilets. Since then, other public toilets have sprung up throughout the Shibuya area (Tokyo). They are expected to become a tourist destination instead of just serving the "relief" needs of residents and visitors.
See-through toilet
Special see-through toilet in Shibuya.
Built in Yoyogi Fukamachi Mini Park and Haru-no-Ogawa Community Park, this pair of restrooms has tinted glass walls so that people who come near can easily check whether the restroom has been used or not. The quality of the glass also reflects the cleanliness/dirtiness of the restroom. To ensure privacy, the glass walls will become opaque after someone enters and locks the door.
Toilet "Way into the forest"
The toilet is made of wooden pieces.
Kengo Kuma is famous for creating the impressive wooden dome at Tokyo Stadium. The restroom design at Nabeshima Shoutou Park is also very Kengo-like with stacked wooden blocks. This restroom area is called the "forest path". It is made of cedar wood and is popular with children. The wooden blocks look quite messy but are actually carefully calculated by Kengo. Inside the restroom are recycled wooden blocks for decoration.
Spherical toilet
Spherical toilet in Japan.
Designer Kazoo Sato has created a public restroom that uses voice commands to control functions including opening/closing the door, flushing the faucet, and turning on/off ambient music. According to the architect, the design was created with the desire to overcome the traditional perception of public restrooms as dark, smelly, and scary. In addition, the spherical architecture helps increase the circulation of air inside, helping the ventilation system work effectively.
White bathroom
The bathroom is completely white.
Graphic designer Kashiwa Sato has created a public restroom covered in white aluminum shutters at the west exit of Ebisu Station in central Tokyo, Japan. The shutters are spaced just 2 centimeters apart to form a wall. The wall encloses a light corridor that runs in a U-shape around the rectangular volume, with entrances at each end. Inside the building are five gender-neutral restroom stalls.
Mushroom shaped toilet
Toilets look like mushrooms growing in the forest from afar.
Pritzker Prize winner Ito Toyo created three mushroom-like toilets that sprout from the forest of Yoyogi Hachiman Shrine. Each toilet is equipped with modern facilities. The Japanese architect divided his structure into three cylindrical blocks with domes protruding above. He wanted to create a quiet, friendly structure that would encourage people to use public toilets.
Triangular toilet
Toilet pays tribute to the Japanese art of origata gift wrapping.
Japanese designer Nao Tamura has built a red public toilet block on a triangular plot of land in the Shibuya district of central Tokyo. The triangular toilet block is divided into three sections: one for the disabled, one for women, and one for men. All three are aligned to form one side of the triangle. All three toilets are covered in a bright red metal shell. Tamura chose this color to make them easy to spot and to create a “sense of urgency.”
Toilet of the future
The toilet looks like something out of a science fiction movie.
Architect Ando Takao built this circular toilet in Jingu-Dori Park. Surrounded by cherry trees in a small park about a five-minute walk from Shibuya Station, Ando designed the toilet's shape to be the highlight of the park.
The circular toilet block, consisting of a male and female toilet cubicle, is enclosed within a wall made of vertical metal panels. This wall provides privacy and is tilted enough to allow air circulation. The entire structure is covered by a sloping roof that protrudes over the toilet to provide shelter from the rain when needed.
