When Nature Calls
Wai Yan Oo, Kyal Sin Moe
Japan


© Wai Yan Oo, Kyal Sin Moe

© Wai Yan Oo, Kyal Sin Moe


© Wai Yan Oo, Kyal Sin Moe
In what way does Biophilia reconnect people in the city with nature? Although our living environment is composed of a mixture of natural and man-made, we have been experiencing the artificiality most of the time when we are inside. In Tokyo, the inside and outside relationship is not very straightforward and not a clear division. The space inside the building is relatively small, opaque, artificial and private, but when we go outside, the space becomes gradually bigger, getting transparent, natural and public. When we say “Toilet” today, which sounds more private and closed off to provide privacy. Having said that, we also had an experience of Toilet in Nature, with Nature and by Nature experiencing the close relationship with natural environments and open feeling. So, How to create such a kind of a coexistence of the openness and protected feelings? The neighborhoods around Yoyogi park form a rich urban space with the mid to small-scale mixed-use buildings are densely packed blend together with small trees and plants. So, we try to envisage bringing such a kind of neighborhood to the park to experience more natural than artificial things. The neighborhoods buildings are segmented down as geometry of Toilets, the staircase and park’s terrain is played as a role of up and down vertical city of Tokyo, and the relationship between the building and natural environment is directly and spatially experienced. The In-Between space lies on the gradient between Inside and Outside, Private and Public to understand how deep we are inside and how far we are outside. The semi-transparent polycarbonate is used as a barrier to interrelate the natural environments while also giving the enough privacy from the outside world. In this way, the project signifies the user to experience reconnecting with nature through the conception of a relationship between private-public, inside-outside and nature and artificiality.