Cool Architecture: Plaza Circle by T2P Architects Office

WORDS Cheri Morris PHOTOS Vincent Hecht via ArchDaily

Plaza Circle makes aesthetically and interactively visible the invisible sewage infrastructure that supports Atsugi City in Japan to foster a new appreciation for the imperatives of which its users are most usually unaware.

The structure is located in what was once the parking lot of Atsugi Forest Environmental Research Center, a training facility owned by Kansei Kogyo that specialises in the management and cleaning of sewer pipe networks. Brainchild of T2P Architects Office, the design sought to give the company a face in the form of a centripetal plaza that communicates the message of “pipes” – that which everyone uses, but often out of consciousness.

Inspired by the actual sewer pipes handled by the company, three-cylinder spaces of different heights were proposed. The indoor and outdoor hand wash basins were converted from hume pipes, whle the restroom sign features a three-dimensional pictographic made from drainage pipes.

Outdoor toilets, washbasins and disaster prevention wells, which are usually located in a corner of the park, were integrated with a circular water garden that culminates into a dialogue between different relationships with water, both inside and outside.

The central courtyard is an outdoor washbasin space that envelopes visitors in the sound of water flowing. The four restrooms surrounding the courtyard, each with a unique view of the water garden, are private, quiet spaces with independent walls that shelter views from the outside.

On the outside, the floating wall serves as an active water area for children to play in continuity with the grass. The abstract white space mirrors the water, reflecting and amplifying it to represent the company’s commitment to purity.

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