Public facility at Toi San wins Green Architecture award in Japan

Renato Marques

Designed by local architecture company “Urban Practice,” the Toi San Public Toilet Project was named Pioneer Award Winner in the Green Architecture category at the 6th Japan International Pioneer Design Award (IPDA), the company announced in a press statement.

According to the same statement, the concept behind Toi San Public Toilet is inspired by the spontaneous vegetation that sprouts from small cracks in walls around Macau.

Commissioned by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM), the project promotes a radical change and redesign of the existing structure in a small park in the Toi San neighborhood in the surroundings of the Border Gate.

The facades were deconstructed and reimagined as a dynamic precast concrete mosaic of 63 modular planters filled with plants and a green rooftop, providing over 100% green coverage to the building, cooling the interior space and blending with the adjacent park.

On the project, Principal Architect at Urban Practice, Nuno Soares, said, “This was a prototype of green architecture with several innovative green strategies, from adaptive-reuse to natural cross ventilation using an innovative system of façade planters in pre-cast concrete. The result exceeded our expectations as this small pocket space became a centrality intensively used by the local community.”

The Japan IDPA was established in 2018 in Tokyo to recognize internationally renowned designers and design agencies while promoting cultural exchange and cooperation.

Urban Practice stated that the company aims to create meaningful innovation by engaging in dialogue with people and places, conducting research to understand and push boundaries, designing innovative and sustainable futures, building with tradition and cutting-edge technologies, and sharing its projects for a lasting impact.