Architect-designed loos such as the ones in Tokyo are fantastic. But even ordinary facilities enhance cities and towns
Five years on from the delayed Tokyo Olympics, one of its less obvious legacies is probably the highest-spec public toilets in the world. Seventeen architects turned conveniences across the city into what one, Kengo Kuma, called “must-see attractions” – including a design with clear-glass cubicles that become opaque when occupied. The German film director Wim Wenders took note. In 2023 they featured in his film, Perfect Days, about a cleaner.
A public realm in which humans and their needs are treated with so much dignity deserves to be celebrated. But new loos do not have to be architectural icons. The main thing is that there should be enough of them, and that they are maintained.
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Architect-designed loos such as the ones in Tokyo are fantastic. But even ordinary facilities enhance cities and townsFive years on from the delayed Tokyo Olympics, one of its less obvious legacies is probably the hig...
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