What Do You Think of this Dessert Themed Public Toilet in Japan?
Photo by Yasunori Takeuchi, courtesy Toilennale
What looks like a giant cake, or possibly an ice cream sunday, stands in the street, connected to a park. This is a piece of art. But it’s also a public toilet. It’s both. As part of the 2015 Oita Toilennale, perhaps the world’s first art festival dedicated to toilets, artist Minako Nishiyama conceived of the project. And with the help of artists Mika Kasahara and Yuma Haruna, the 3 female artists brought “Melting Dream” to life. Continue reading »
An Architect In France Has Designed A Concrete Pool Table For Public Spaces
French architect Gwendal Le Bihan, has designed Urban Pool, a concrete pool table for public spaces. Continue reading »
Tetris Inspired Urban Furniture Turns Public Spaces Into Playgrounds
Open Code Urban Furniture – a construction set adaptive to the needs and wishes of different neighbourhoods. Instrumental in arranging a space for sharing (drawers installed). A series of open code urban furniture workshops are run in 4 Vilnius neighbourhoods in cooperation with the local residents. 4 furniture sets, 4 Vilnius neighbourhoods – and 4 different scenarios of use, to understand how public spaces and urban furniture work. The same basic set becomes different in each context. Continue reading »
The New London Hot Spots? Cafés That Used to Be Public Toilets
A trip to the toilet is usually not associated with sandwiches, wine, or dates, but that’s changing in London. With real estate at a premium and the repurposing of old spaces in full effect, a trend has emerged: former public restrooms are reopening as cafés, restaurants, and boutiques. That’s right, forget the advice about not eating where people used to, um …
London has all kinds of history, and that extends to its loos. Take, for instance, WC – that’s the actual name of the former Victorian-era underground-station toilet in South London that opened in July. It now stands for wine and charcuterie.
WC, a wine bar that opened in July, is housed inside an abandoned underground toilet, with original walls intact. Much of the old décor remains, with the original floor mosaics and wall tiles, and even some of the old toilets in the restrooms (those are for display only). As Time Out London said in its review, “Down the wide stairs it still looks and feels like a Victorian convenience, albeit a sanitised one.”
WC co-founder Jayke Mangion, told AFP that “the government has been pushing the councils to use all empty places to generate revenues.”
Photo: AFP
If you want an even bolder toilet theme, just head to The Attendant in central London, where you can sit on a stool and have a salt- beef bagel while actually facing an original 1890s urinal. The toilet cisterns have been turned into flower pots.
Continue reading »
Four Month Old Northern Lynx Kittens get their First Public Outing
Northern Lynx kittens, explore their enclosure at the Highland Wildlife park on October 9, 2012 in Kingussie, Scotland. The feline twins are believed to be the type of lynx found historically in Scotland. The Highland Wildlife Park specialises in Scottish animal species, both past and present, and species that are well adapted to cold weather. In photographs by by Jeff J. Mitchell. Continue reading »
Traenenpalast Museum Opens To The Public in Berlin
A visitor looks at a display of video monitors once used by East German border police at the Traenenpalast museum on its first day open to the public on September 15, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The museum documents the history of the Friedrichstrasse crossing between East and West Berlin. Located at the end of an East Berlin subway line, it was the final point of departure for West Germans returning west after visiting relatives in the East, which earned the building the popular name Traenenpalast, or Palace of Tears. Border gaurds often subjected travelers to inordinately long waits and meticulous searches. The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 separated families and friends overnight as the East German government mostly forbid its citizens from travelling west. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images Europe) Continue reading »
New York’s High Line Sky Park is Open for Public
The High Line runs through three of Manhattan’s most dynamic neighborhoods: the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea, and Hell’s Kitchen/Clinton. When the High Line was built in the 1930s, these neighborhoods were dominated by industrial and transportation uses. Now many of the warehouses and factories have been converted to art galleries, design studios, retailers, restaurants, museums, and residences.
