Periscope Toilet, China

Periscope toilet scattered around the Ginkgo swan lake are committed to building a new city to experience future life with harmonious coexistence of ecology and nature, wisdom and technology, integration of art and humanity.

The Periscope Toilet is built in hope that users could enjoy the time and space of their own even in a public toilet. It is an era of fragmented information and space. People can transport themselves between the private sphere and the public sphere through the virtual scene of the Internet Nevertheless, openness and privacy are often contradictory in real scenes. The designers want to resolve the contradiction between openness and privacy in the physical space: to go to the toilet along such a beautiful lake, people should be able to face the breeze and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Toilet is an architecture that is most relevant to the scale of a human body, in which the senses of smell and touch are amplified. The ventilation shutters are hidden behind the mirror. The top form air convection, provide a more comfortable interior environment. The periscope design extends the physical boundary, through which users could sit and enjoy the scenery.The floor plan of each toilet is two meters wide square, within which the various components of the entire building, such as light steel structure, aluminum panels, ventilation shutters, rotating mirrors, and sanitary ware, can meet modular industrial production. Different heights of each periscope allow users in each toilet to have different views, meanwhile, group the modular units into an architecture landscape.

People’s views towards toilets changed from a disgusting taboo to an industrial product that can be enjoyed, to some extend even an artwork. It reflects the progress of human society, yet also reflects the extreme status quo: toilet in someplace is where some people enjoy their most wonderful time of a day, while in some other places is where people suffer and even risk contracting diseases. The architects hope that the modular design can be applied to various environments, not only a scenic lakeside but also crowded and noisy favelas.