Kengo Kuma’s public restroom divided into five small houses

When looking for a restroom in a park, we usually look for a sign first. Once finished, we return to the path. Taking a long look at the exterior rarely comes next.

This photo of the ‘A Walk in the Woods’ restroom at Nabeshima Shoto Park in Tokyo, designed by Kengo Kuma, briefly changes the order. Wooden boards stand at different angles, and a path leads between them. Rather than approaching one large building, visitors seem to enter a group of small houses. If you're not in a hurry, it's worth taking a moment to look at the appearance in front of the entrance.

Five small houses instead of big boxes

This restroom, designed by Kengo Kuma, opened in 2021. The name is ‘A Walk in the Woods’. It consists of five small buildings wrapped in cedar boards and connected between the buildings like a forest path.

The five spaces are not duplicates of the same space. Different needs were taken into account, such as sharing with family, changing clothes, grooming, or using a wheelchair. The design acknowledges the different ways people move and use their bodies, even in a facility visited in a hurry.

It is also interesting that the wooden boards have different angles. The boards overlap differently depending on where you stand. Rather than forming a single box enclosed by solid walls, the small buildings sit among the surrounding trees and light. This can be read as a choice made so that the experience of walking through the park path does not stop at the entrance.

The work behind the photographs

This is one of 17 public restrooms in Shibuya redesigned through THE TOKYO TOILET project. Beyond the distinctive shapes seen in photographs, everyday operation depends on cleaning and inspection.

The project separately introduces cleaning methods and regular maintenance tailored to the material. Restrooms do not stay as they were on opening day without care. As people come and go and use water, constant maintenance is required. This is what lies between a space that is easy to enter for the first time and a space that can be entered again.

I am glad to see the choice to use good design in public restrooms. A facility used only briefly still deserves careful thought about the moments when people rely on it. These small houses accommodate different users next to the walking paths in the park, and the work of maintaining them begins again every day.