深圳国际园林花卉博览园公厕改造Public Toilet Renovation, Shenzhen Garden Expo Park

Shenzhen International Garden and Flower Expo Park, in Futian District, launched a programme to upgrade its public toilets in 2020. A destination for visitors and local residents, it brings together gardens and buildings in styles from around the world, giving it a distinctive cultural and artistic character. The large park also contains varied vegetation and terrain, including slopes, hills, lakes, ravines and woodland. The project faced two main challenges: how to expand and improve the facilities on complex, densely wooded sites while complying with Shenzhen’s tree-protection requirements; and how to design these small municipal projects for rapid construction on limited budgets.

Ecological Toilet Renovation — The facility sits in a wooded valley, connected to the higher main park road by two winding paths. The client asked us to retain its pitched roof and frame while extending the facilities to meet updated public-toilet standards. The proposal increases the proportion of women’s facilities, places washbasins beneath an open veranda, and adds a mother-and-baby room and management room at the entrance. As the paths cannot provide barrier-free access, a separate universal-access toilet is located on higher ground close to the main park road. To make the remote facility visible from a distance, we chose red flexible brick slips for the roof: conspicuous against the vegetation, lightweight, durable, economical and quick to install. Five shades of red form a graduated, mosaic-like pattern. Other finishes remain neutral. Grey terrazzo-look tiles and white corrugated panels create contrasts of texture and light. Glass-block walls bring blurred views of planting indoors, complemented by timber-toned partitions. Gaps between the walls and eaves allow light and air to pass through. Exposed wiring keeps costs down; carefully planned routes and controlled cable-trunking colours reduce visual distraction.

East Zone Toilet Renovation — Located in the Asian garden display area, this facility replaces an axially symmetrical, pitched-roof building on the same site. The design retains its spatial symmetry, dividing the men’s and women’s facilities and washbasins into two halves, with a universal-access toilet and mother-and-baby room placed symmetrically at the entrance. A landscape corridor on the central axis extends the entrance view towards the hillside. Drawing on the traditional courtyard arrangement known as “four waters returning to the hall,” the roofs slope towards an internal courtyard and direct rainwater inward, with rooms arranged around it. The courtyard brings nature indoors while providing a degree of separation from the surroundings, creating a quiet, poetic place to wait. Beige travertine-look wall tiles give the building the presence of a large stone in the woodland, combining calm with warmth. Separating the roof from the outer walls admits breezes, while projecting eaves blur the boundary between architecture and nature. They guide the eye out towards the treetops, making visitors aware of the landscape around them. Frosted glass blocks transmit and reflect tree shadows; as breezes move the branches, an abstract, changing landscape appears inside.

Nanyuan Toilet Renovation — This facility stands within a group of Chinese-style garden buildings, with dense woodland beyond the boundary wall. Small windows and enclosed rooms originally limited daylight and ventilation. The client requested an internal upgrade without changing the exterior. We first reorganised the plan, adding an entrance vestibule and combining the men’s and women’s washbasins to separate wet washing areas from the toilet stalls. Men’s and women’s facilities sit on either side, with new management and plant rooms along the exterior wall. Without disrupting the Chinese-style appearance, we opened the wall behind the washbasins to create a circular window recalling a traditional moon gate. This breaks down the strict division between garden and woodland, introducing sunlight, ventilation and direct views of the trees. Concrete paving tiles extend from the vestibule floor onto the walls, complementing the garden’s restrained, rustic character. A circular blue-green glass screen becomes lighter towards the top; together with the curved washbasin and round window, it forms a consistent geometric language. Terrazzo-look tiles and timber-toned partitions introduce a contemporary, natural material palette that deliberately contrasts with the traditional-style buildings outside.

North Zone Toilet Renovation — Screened by a small hill to the south and suspended above a ravine to the north, the wooded site is rebuilt on its original footprint. Functions are organised within two interlocking elongated volumes. The southern volume contains the universal-access toilet, mother-and-baby room and washbasins. Its eaves slope down towards the entrance, reducing the apparent height and helping the building recede into the trees. The northern volume expands the men’s and women’s facilities to meet the park’s new requirements. Its eaves slope towards the ravine to frame a low, horizontal view. This volume also turns 10 degrees towards the east to avoid overlooking from a neighbouring building at the northwest corner. On the ravine side, a lowered viewing and resting platform makes use of the site’s landscape. Gaps between the roof and internal walls admit sunlight, breezes and tree shadows, keeping the interior bright and well ventilated. The building becomes a quiet presence within nature, allowing the surrounding plants and filtered light to take precedence. Grey terrazzo-look tiles unify floors, walls and roof, balanced by warm timber-toned toilet partitions.

At the time of the source text, further facilities were being designed for construction in the near future: the Southeast Zone, Flower Pavilion, Theatre and Liuhua Mountain toilets.