A maze of board-marked concrete walls encloses this public toilet in Tokyo, which interior design studio Wonderwall created for the Tokyo Toilet project and modelled on prehistoric Japanese architecture.
Located in Ebisu Park in the capital's Shibuya district, the toilet block is intended to resemble "primitive and simple" object in the park, rather than standing out as a building.
It is dubbed by Wonderwall as the Modern Kawaya, referencing primitive kawaya huts that were used as toilets in the early J?mon period ? the earliest historical era of Japanese history that is dated between 10,000 to 6,000 BCE.

"In Japan, the origin of toilets is kawaya," explained Japanese studio Wonderwall. "These huts were of primitive and simple designs, often made of hardened soil or pieces of wood bound together." "We kept in mind a facility that distances itself from architectural concepts and elements: an object that stands casually in the park as if it were playground equipment, benches, or trees."

The public toilet's design was led by Masamichi Katayama, founder of Wonderwall, and is intended for use by anyone, regardless of their gender, age, or disability.

It is composed of 15 "randomly" placed walls that are made from board-marked concrete with a highly textured finish, nodding to the wood and soil construction of traditional kawayas.

The arrangement of the walls resembles a maze, with gaps between them opening to reveal discreet ...