United Practice Architects | UPA

Landscape public toilet of Liangzi Lake Changling wharf – Liangzi Lake is the second largest freshwater lake in Hubei, where the perennial smoke is mixed with water and sky. In order to revive the key tourism status of Liangzi Lake eco-tourism scenic spot, it is funded by Hubei Tourism Investment Group to upgrade Liangzi Lake scenic spot to 5A scenic spot. The supporting facilities of the scenic spot will be comprehensively upgraded, and the AAA landscape public toilet is one of the first key upgrading projects, and it is also one of the image facades of the scenic spot wharf.

The project is located in a camphor forest in Changling wharf on the east bank of Liangzi Lake. There is a small town nearby, the town will become very lively in the evening, the camphor forest is a good place for them to relax and chat.

The original idea was to put all the buildings in the forest, masking the unique nature of the toilet. But in the follow-up discussion, we think that the toilet should not be a disgusting place, it can be a medium to relax from both physically and mentally. So we exposed part of the toilet and placed it on one side of the forest to enhance its identification and make it an aisle connecting the forest and the garden.

The building is ring-shaped as a whole, with strong accessibility of internal traffic, and a landscape courtyard is placed in the middle for people to stop and watch. But most people like to look up at the sky. Due to the windy edge of the lake, the circular traffic flow lines cooperate with high windows, making the internal space extremely ventilated and shady, and some people ridiculed that they lost five pounds easily after going to the toilet.

In order to meet the conditions of rapid construction, the building is assembled with steel structure. In order to create a sense of lightness, the ground is raised as a whole, and the outer wall is decorated with a wooden grille to make the windows "disappear" from the facade and integrate well with the environment as a whole. The circular high window makes interior bright even when the lights are not turned on.
Early in the morning, the building is standing in the forest, the light is presented in the form of spots, like the moisture on the lake, the scenery of Liangzi Lake is also looming.

The unexpected surprise is that people are happy to go, shuttle, hang out and stay. Naturally they forget that this may be a "smelly" and "dirty" place, which is imperceptibly changing the stereotype of nearby residents and tourists about public toilets.

In the exploration of new architectural types, we explore the relationship between architecture and people and environment by the most conventional design means, return to simple architecture, and hope to change people's cognition of traditional fields in a simple way.