Text description from the architects. The red brick public toilet is located on the edge of the old road in Liuba County in a ravine, surrounded by schools, residential houses and bus stops, in a complicated environment and with many tourists. Opposite the public toilet is a Liuba tourist service center, which is planned to become a tourist distribution center in the future.
We designed a double toilet so that everyone can use it. Outside we designed a unisex toilet, a baby changing room and a room for the disabled. There are also benches at the entrance where residents can sit.
The architecture has a very clear structural relationship: the floor and walls are made of red bricks and the roof is a wooden structure with a truss system. The red brick walls are designed as a sheet metal wall, with semi-circular arches that either serve as an entrance or are filled with glass bricks for light.
Three types of translucent materials were used in the building: solar panels on the roof and frosted glass tiles and corrugated glass for the facade infill and doors and windows. The roof is made of two layers of solar panels, staggered and overlapped, creating a grid-like structure. The incoming light is refracted by the layers and becomes very soft and pleasant when it falls into the space. By using similar translucent materials, we have enriched the layers of light and shadow, which is another attempt to explore their relationship.
In a small architecture like this public toilet, I insisted on the design principles of visibility, clarity of materials and disclosure of flaws to create a building that does not hide anything with decoration. We do not distinguish the interior from the exterior, but use the language of design to control. I think such a house has a kind of “legibility”. Insisting on the visible construction method is very demanding for the construction team because there is little room for change.
If something goes wrong, they either have to completely remake it or leave it as is. We started completely from scratch with the red brick part, the glass blocks have defects because they were supposed to be stacked differently depending on their position, and the size of the solar panels on the roof is not aligned with the wooden structure. There are mistakes and regrets, but the overall presentation of the building is still successful. I think tolerance of certain defects and regrets could also be a necessary lesson for the architects.
