Tag: bathroom

• Kompotoi

  

  Portable toilets are needed on every construction site, and in lots of other places too. Generally speaking, though, they are not pleasant spaces. But that doesn’t seem to be the case in Switzerland. I just discovered a Swiss company called Kompotoi. They make high-quality portable toilets out of spruce, and they have made a commitment to composting as much human waste as possible.

  But the really unique feature that I had never seen before is that each toilet comes equipped with a bin of wood shavings (“litter”), which you are supposed to sprinkle over your poop once you’re done. This serves two important functions. One, it dries out the waste which greatly reduces any smells. I can attest that the toilet I used smelt just fine. And two, doesn’t it just look better to go into a toilet and see wood shavings as opposed to poop?

  This might be an instance of “yeah, only in Switzerland.” The retail price for their classic toilet model is CHF 5,966. That works out to about C$9,500 once you covert it to our painfully weak dollar.

  2024.09.03

• The Tokyo Toilet

  

  One of the biggest challenges with living through this pandemic has been finding a good public toilet. Drinking in the park is all fine and dandy, but at some point you’re going to need to find a place to pee. From experience, I can tell you that this can be a challenge in places like Toronto and Vancouver. But from the looks of it, the situation is a bit different in Tokyo. Japan, apparently, views its toilets as a symbol of its world-renowned hospitality culture. And so it takes great pride in the design of its public toilets. Last year, Tokyo invited 16 creators from around the world to redesign 17 of its public toilets throughout Shibuya. The list of creators includes big names like Tadao Ando, Kengo Kuma, Shigeru Ban, Toyo Ito, and many others. And the result is probably the nicest collection of public toilets that you have ever seen (somewhere around 9 of them are already operational with the balance expected to open sometime this year). The uniforms worn by the maintenance staff were even designed by Nigo (creator of the fashion brand A Bathine Ape). That’s attention to detail.

  For more about The Tokyo Toilet project and to check out the completed toilets, click here.

  Image: The Tokyo Toilet

  2021.07.20

• Hotel room as shop

  

  Vipp is a 3rd generation family-owned Danish company that makes everything from kitchens and lighting to prefab homes. But it all started with a pedal-controlled waste bin that Holger Nielsen – a metalworker – crafted for his wife Marie’s salon in 1939.

  I love their design philosophy. It is centered around “fewer but better products” and around lasting function over ephemeral trends.

  But equally interesting is what they are doing with their Vipp Hotels. Instead of large hotels, they offer individual rooms in unique locations, such as this 55 square meter design object in the Swedish wilderness (pictured above).

  The rooms they have crafted are, not surprisingly, stunning. And that’s because they are deliberately designed as a tool to showcase their kitchens, bathrooms, bins, and other products. 

  Here is a quote from their CEO taken from a recent Surface article:

  “Traditional retail seems to be losing its power, but what is not losing power is our desire to see or do something interesting. I see our hotels as the experience economy coming alive,” says Kasper Egelund, CEO of Denmark-based Vipp.

  Clever.

  Image: Vipp

  2018.04.27
• 

  justthedesign:

  Bathroom At The Gota Residence by Sforza Seilern Architects

  2013.03.07