Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando has completed a circular toilet in a Tokyo park as his contribution to the Tokyo Toilet project.
Built in Jingu-Dori Park, the toilet was created as part of a scheme run by non-profit Nippon Foundation to upgrade public facilities in the city's downtown Shibuya district.
The initiative has already seen by toilets built by Ando's fellow Japanese Pritzker Prize-winners Fumihiko Maki and Shigeru Ban.
Tadao Ando has designed a toilet in Tokyo
Surrounded by cherry trees in a small park around a five-minute walk from Shibuya Station, Ando derived the toilet's shape from his desire to create a structure that enhanced the park.
"I sought for this small architecture to exceed the boundaries of a public toilet to become a 'place' in the urban landscape that provides immense public value," said Ando. "Using this clear and simple reasoning for the concept of this structure, I chose to utilise a circle floor plan with a spanning roof and engawa [Japanese porch]."
The circular toilet block is surrounded by cherry trees
The circular toilet block, which contains a male, female and accessible cubicle along with external sinks, is wrapped in a wall made from vertical metal louvres. This wall creates privacy while letting air circulate.
The whole structure is covered with an angled roof that overhangs the toilet to provide shelter.
The toilet is wrapped in a wall of vertical louvres
"It was vital for me to make a space ...