Japanese studio Suppose Design Office has built a monolithic concrete toilet alongside the Sendagaya Station near Tokyo's Olympic stadium.
Built ahead of the postponed Tokyo Olympics, the toilet replaces an existing facility next to Sendagaya Station, which will serve passengers visiting the Kengo Kuma-designed National Stadium during this year's Olympics.
Suppose Design Office aimed for the small building to create an impact despite its location, squeezed between an overpass on a station entrance.
Suppose Design Office designed the monolithic toilet alongside Tokyo's Sendagaya Station
"I thought about how to create an impact in an architecturally simple way, and out of several ways, I chose to use height," said Suppose Design Office founder Tanijiri Makoto. "I wanted to create a sense of discomfort in the city by making a lump of concrete, which is normally heavy, look like it was floating so that it would become art in itself," he told Dezeen.
The toilet's walls do not touch the ground
The 7.5-metre-high toilet block is over twice as high as the station entrance, which combined with its monolithic concrete facades make it an imposing structure.
Its concrete walls are hung from central columns within the toilet block with a 500-millimetre gap left around the base of the building to allow some light and air into the structure.
It was designed to appear like it is floating
According to the architect, the weight of the concrete combined with the floati...