As part of the facility upgrades series, China’s Kunyu Mountain National Park invited the landscape architect to design a pilot public toilet which would serve as the new model of public facility in the National Park. Instead of proposing a restroom design, the architect put forward a modular system which can be adapted based on different topographic conditions. This site-specific strategy was greatly appreciated by the client, therefore the site was chosen to explore the full potential of the modular system: a terrace within the alpine botanical garden at the edge of the forest.
Through adaptation and organization of the modules, a courtyard was created based on existing terrace contour. The courtyard garden was wrapped by a canopied corridor running both up and down. The canopied corridor threaded the courtyard's two parts: the rest area and restroom area.
The rest area was formed by continuous transition of modular pavilions, for waiting and view-seeing. The setting of the viewing deck provided a waiting place and the best viewing spot towards the mountain.
The restroom skin was juxtaposed with twig and sanded glass, protecting privacy while creating interesting light & shadow effect. There were two hand-washing points at the edge of courtyard where water was charged directly to the ground after being filtered from the gravel basin.
From site selection, design strategy and materiality all the way to construction method, an innovative low impact design approach was adopted. This modular system was proved to be easily applied to the facility upgrade endeavors throughout the national park.
Credits:
- Scale Atelier - Designer - Feimin Song
- Scale Atelier - Lead Designer - Huicheng Zhong
- Scale Atelier - Designer - Hao Lan
- Lab D+H - Designer - YoungJoon Choi
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