The liveliness and freshness of this Springtecture H is located in a small park in Shingu-cho, a densely built-up area in the mountains of Hyogo Prefecture, sandwiched between new primary and secondary schools and one hour by high-speed train from Osaka. Public lavatories are required to provide convenience, based on openness, and security, deriving from enclosure. This small 119 sq m building demonstrates that prestigious architecture can be created even from a washroom, a landmark that changing the landscape around them and having their own influence on contemporary architecture.

The dramatic form grows out of the nature of the material and, once seen, seems natural, logical and economical. But the Springtecture H form is entirely new, and has mysterious echoes of the geometrical complexities revealed by modern science. As Shuhei Endo says, “Springtecture architecture is not composed of roof, wall, pillar girder and slab… it is another architecture completed by original thought.” As the functional program requires an economical ‘open’ scheme yet a formal appearance of a ‘closed’ environment to give the user a sense of security, the architectural concept was to create a link between it through the continuity of the material.

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