Winner – Award of Excellence in the 2020 WLA Awards for the Built Small category
The Public Toilets in Zuzhai Village is located in the well-known hometown of overseas Chinese and the township of Diaolou. It is designed and located at the original public toilet in Zuzhai Village. The old materials and the old toilet are reborn after the reuse of material from the demolished toilet.
In terms of architectural form, we chose a landscape-like treatment, hiding the functional area of the toilet under the large steps that provide villagers with daily leisure and entertainment. The large steps could host activities, in an attempt to solve the contradiction between the convenience and concealment of public toilet.
With regard to the choice of materials, we attempt to create a new modulus and order, reusing the old bricks and tiles that have lost their modulus after being broken and cannot be used, which let the old materials continue to write a new form of history. The use of a steel cages with a uniform modulus allows the tiles to be organized flexibly in the cages. The mottled old bricks and tiles are like sections of local historical fragments, which are broken, reorganized and collaged. The construction process of the entire wall follows the rules of gravity. The further the cages to the upper part, the less weight they need to bear, the more flexibility of the reconstruction, the more tiles, broken bricks, Teapots, porcelain bowls and other objects can be used inside the walls. Those materials create plenty of hollow to make the brick wall more transparent. At sunrise or sunset, sunlight passes through the cracks from the wall, creates beautiful light falls on the ground or the corners.
These materials carry memories of the past of the village, we hope to organize them into the new public toilet, to maintain the common and moving details of lives in Zuzhai after the renewal.
Public Toilets in Zuzhai Village
Location ：Zuzhai village, Tangkou Town, Kaiping, Guangdong, P.R. China
Client：Tangkou township government of Kaiping City
Landscape Architect：Atelier cn°S & South China University of Technology
Design Director：ZHONG Guanqiu, SONG Gang, ZHU Zhiyuan
Design Team：LIN Hairui, LI Ruibo，XU Zhongjing，HU Tao（intern）
Structure Consultants：ZHENG Zimao
Photographer：WU Siming, Atelier cn°S
