THE TOKYO TOILET – Creators discuss their thoughts on each public toilet

One of the things I realized when I joined The TOKYO TOILET project is that I have almost never used public toilets, and especially public toilets in parks. It may have been coincidence to some extent that I didn’t need to use them, but I thought it was unfortunate that I could not think of any that I would want to use.

All of the interior projects like stores and offices that I have been involved with to date have toilets. In those cases, the toilets’ design is based on the identity of the location and space, but we always put a great deal of attention into ease of use and privacy, in addition to simply the design.

There are two concerns with public toilets located in parks – whether they are clean inside and whether there is anyone hiding inside. These glass “transparent toilets” were designed to resolve both of these issues.
The technology for making the glass become transparent when electricity passes through it was not developed for these toilets. I have used it in my previous work, for example for room partitions in the Swatch-Omega Cité du Temps in Switzerland, which was completed in 2019.
When I designed these toilets, I paid particular attention to the layout of the equipment so that it can be seen from outside when the toilet is not in use and the glass is transparent. Because they are permanent fixtures in the parks, the equipment needed to be arranged to fit in beautifully as part of the scenery.
These transparent toilets were installed in two locations, the Haru-no-Ogawa Community Park in Yoyogi and the Yoyogi Fukamachi Mini Park in Tomigaya. The basic structure and equipment are the same, with no common area but an individual universal toilet, women’s toilet, and men’s toilet arranged in a row. I did not want the colors to be bound to the standard red for women and blue for men, so I used a cooler color scheme in Haru-no-Ogawa Community Park and a warmer color scheme in Yoyogi Fukamachi Mini Park, with the aim of making them appear bright even in natural daylight.

When I first saw the location, I thought of a small triangular “gap” in the middle of the city, sandwiched between a large concrete wall bordering the railway line in the background, with an emergency storehouse and power switching box on either side, along a road with heavy traffic.
For this small, triangular space, I drew my inspiration from origata, a traditional Japanese method for folding paper that is also the foundation of origami, and decided to create a geometric space that resembles folded paper.

One of the things I try to emphasize in my design is a sense of place. This means the location’s historical background and universal value. Because this toilet is located in a park for children that has been loved for a long time by local residents, I wanted the design to be fresh and somewhat humorous.
By fresh, I mean open and bright with a hygienic environment, and humorous means a place where people using the toilet can relax and unwind. Taking into consideration things like ventilation and sunlight and users’ safety, I arranged separate rooms connected by a roof along a gentle curve. There is also a courtyard in the center that blends with the park’s lush greenery, and I have placed a bench outside the universal toilet for people to sit on and rest. I was happy to learn that many people in the park, including those not even using the toilet, enjoy sitting on this bench. From the beginning, we also incorporated the idea of the facility as a public space that serves as a park pavilion equipped with a rest area.

When we first visited Nishihara Itchome Park it had a very unique atmosphere that gave an impression of being dark and lonely, so the starting point for the project was to create a public toilet as an andon (traditional Japanese lantern) to light up the park. To make the toilet a useful andon for many people, we did not emphasize the existence of the building, but instead focused on achieving as much brightness as possible. The simple, rectangular shape is how we achieved this.
Another consideration was to make the space inside the toilet feel pleasant to use. As an architect, I have designed many houses and many toilets along with them. Even though the space is limited, this is an essential place in people’s daily lives, and I always keep in mind that fact that it should not feel like a confined space that is unpleasant to use. In designing this public toilet, I wanted to create a place that feels open and as bright as possible within a limited space. This is why it has a high ceiling, while the transparent glass of the outer walls reflects the surrounding trees. The interior feels refreshing, with the sunlight filtering through the trees to illuminate a carefree space.

Japan is world renowned for its beauty, cleanliness, and courtesy, and its toilets are one of the things that embody those qualities. In my travels around the world, I have never experienced toilets that give a sense of beauty, hygiene, and a feeling of respect toward the user to the extent of toilets in Japan.
Natural ventilation is an important factor related to this beauty and cleanliness. Because of Japan’s high humidity, ventilation has been taken into consideration when designing buildings since ancient times. The deep eaves and external corridors in the traditional architecture of both houses and temples are designed for ventilation. At the same time, today ventilation is said to be one of the keys to the prevention of infectious disease. Looking at the past and considering society going forward, I would say that toilets that are bright, well ventilated, and safe are what should be sought in public toilets.
For the Jingu-Dori Park Toilet, I used a cylindrical wall of vertical louvers on the exterior of a round building to give the interior sunlight and ventilation. A circle is a fundamental shape, which I thought was appropriate for a facility that can be used freely by anyone.

The Jingumae 1-chome intersection is my favorite intersection in Tokyo. It is close to shops and a curry restaurant that I used to pass every day, so I am very happy to be involved in designing a public toilet in this location with which I feel a close connection.
The design comes from the Washington Heights Dependent Housing Area (housing for the families of U.S. military personnel) that was built in 1946 in the area that is now Yoyogi Park. Washington Heights is the place that launched the development of Harajuku into the culture town that it is today, and the Dependent Housing Area had a major effect on postwar lifestyle changes.
Almost all of the houses are now gone. I was raised in Harajuku, and that is where I am now. The concept of the toilet is to develop new things by studying the past, and I thought I would try to design a duplicate of a dependent house to preserve this disappearing design in Harajuku, an area I love.
The building looks like a welcoming house, so that it will be a public toilet that people feel comfortable using. We achieved this by paying attention to small details, like doors that open inward so they always look open, and a fence that looks like a simple garden fence.

Nabeshima Shoto Park has a pond and lush greenery, and I wanted to create a public toilet that melts into the forest. Therefore, instead of having one large box-like building, we scattered five different toilet huts and connected them with a “forest path.”
The exteriors of the huts are covered with eared cedar board louvers installed at random angles. The cedar is Yoshino cedar from Nara Prefecture, trees that have very dense rings. We used ears to create a rough feeling of being in a forest.
We used wood to bring nature back into the city. Even for a public structure like this, wood can be used in many ways depending on how it is used. Fundamentally, we wanted to convey Japan’s culture of trees to the world. The wood used for the interior decoration is Japanese cherry and zelkova and other materials from the Tsukui woods in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, using scraps left over from making the tops of school desks. The five toilets each have different functions and interiors, representing an age of diversity.

When we visited THE TOKYO TOILET facilities that had already been completed, we saw that they all embodied different qualities depending on their locations in places like in a park or along a major road. We used white exactly because it is different.
Treating the project as one with the main objectives of cleanliness, safety, harmony, and a society that embraces diversity, we thought about what kind of public toilet should be built next to a train and subway station. We began the design by first identifying the overall purpose and the unique aspects of the location.
The West Exit of Ebisu Station is a place that many people walk past, and the nearby statue of Ebisu (one of the Seven Deities of Good Fortune) is a popular meeting place. The location can be called the face of the neighborhood, and people who use the station to commute will see the building every day. For that reason, we thought that rather than being conspicuous as a toilet, it was more important to make it “not too conspicuous.”
It has an unobtrusive appearance that people will not notice, in a good way. We chose white to convey a sense of cleanliness, and also thought that at the same time, this would make it appear refreshing and help to brighten up the atmosphere outside the station. The louvres are designed to give peace of mind in two ways – by maintaining privacy and providing good external visibility. This also provides good ventilation, and gives an overall impression of lightness.

The previous toilet on this triangular lot in front of the Yoyogi-Hachiman forest gave an impression of being dark and difficult to enter. I therefore thought that the first consideration should be to make a public toilet that is bright and inviting, so that women in particular could use it at night with peace of mind. Having three separate toilet buildings makes it easy to navigate, and with no dead ends provides a line of sight that discourages crime. In addition, all three units are equipped with the functions that are normally found in universal toilets to accommodate children and older persons, so the facility can accommodate diverse needs.

My goal was to create the world’s most hygienic public toilet. To achieve this, we decided on a voice-command format for a toilet that can be used without using your hands. Research on the use of public toilets overseas shows that roughly 60% of people use their foot to push the lever to flush, roughly 50% use toilet paper when they open the door, roughly 40% close the door with their hip, and roughly 30% use their elbows to avoid hand contact. The facility was designed as a new universal experience (UX) with an “I don’t want to touch anything” mentality.

I have been involved with THE TOKYO TOILET project since the conceptual stage, and it has been more than four years since I was put in charge of this location. When the Hiroo East Park Toilet was finally completed, some people said that it looks like a small art museum, which gave me a sense of relief. The location is along a tree-lined road that leads to the Hiroo Garden Hills apartment complex, with the University of the Sacred Heart campus in the background. I approached the project with a constant sense of responsibility, aware that it would be part of the daily lives of the people who use it, including people who have lived in the area for a long time.
I began by thinking about how to make people like the toilet and feel that it is important. I wanted more than for people to like the toilet because it is clean, and tried to use a framework and create a new relationship that proactively draws people to the toilet itself.

I think this is a marvelous project. I’m sure that for many people – Japanese as well as non-Japanese – this will be the first time they want to use a public toilet. There may even be people who visit THE TOKYO TOILET because they want to learn more about the culture of architecture and design. In addition to raising the status of public toilets, I believe this is also a very significant project for Shibuya.
The conditions imposed by the location of the Urasando public toilet were complex. The topography is uneven, and the Shuto Expressway runs overhead. It is also next to a public bicycle parking lot, meaning there are numerous physical limitations to take into account, and overcoming these limitations was an important process in the design.

At the UTokyo DLX Design Lab, we aim to fuse design and engineering, and provide prototypes of innovative goods and services in collaboration with various specialists from Japan and overseas.
The Hatagaya public toilet grew out of research into design-led innovation by my team. We collected ideas by holding workshops with participants of various nationalities, ages, and genders, and then collaborated with architectural specialists to give shape to those ideas. Another special feature of the design process for the Hatagaya public toilet was that it included multiple discussions with local residents.

The location, near Sasazuka Station on the Keio train line, had restrictions in terms of construction methods and loads because of the pillars that are anchored into the ground to support the railway that runs overhead, and a water main that runs along the south side of the site. The material used for the structure is called COR-TEN steel, and I chose these highly durable steel panels because they can be assembled without cranes or heavy machinery and reduce the weight of the structure.
The materials and structure were chosen because of these restrictions, but the steel panels also have the advantage of being able to shape into curves. I didn’t start out with this exact shape in mind, however. I started with a flat plan with a universal toilet in the middle, a men’s and women’s toilet on each side, and a booth for children that is next to the sidewalk for easy access, and when we started to assemble the panels according to that plan, a cute shape began to emerge that looked like it came from a fairy tale.

The structure for a public toilet is small, which also limits its functions. The process of highlighting new possibilities was very interesting, but also involved difficulties. I wanted to create a toilet that was a new kind of public space that has “community value.” With that in mind, we thought about the relationship between the toilet and the community from a variety of angles, and after several years we arrived at the concept of Utsuwa – Izumi (Vessel – Spring).