Bridge – Toilet / FMD
Text description provided by the architects. Gaoqiao Village is located in Yibin, Sichuan Province, next to the Yichangxing Hundred Mile Green Bamboo Corridor. It is a beautiful small village in southern Sichuan hidden in Lin Huiyin’s poem “A Small Village in November”. In recent years, with the theme of bamboo culture and bamboo industry, it has become a famous village for the integration of agriculture and tourism in rural revitalization with bamboo as its characteristic. Compared with other public buildings like commercial, cultural, or hotels, a public toilet is a public supporting facility that is easily ignored in the process of rural revitalization. They integrate the physiological needs of farmers with functions such as agricultural rest, tool storage, and agricultural tourism to form an agricultural supporting complex. The design aims to integrate technology with agricultural production through the application of appropriate local ecological technologies.
The project is located in the middle of farmland at the entrance of the village. The building needs to integrate the daily life of farmers with the functional facilities of tourists. The roads on both sides of the site form an angle to create encirclement, with farmland between the roads. There is a height difference of approximately 4 meters between the road and the farmland.
The design starts from the site and takes “connection & supporting” as the starting point, integrating the two themes of “bridge” and “toilet”. It not only improves the road system but also meets the functional needs of local farmers and tourists. The overall shape of the building is based on the concept of the sustainable ecological cycle, and through the three-dimensional folding of structural walls, a three-dimensional self-supporting structural system is constructed to connect the road systems on both sides. The building integrates into the surrounding farmland with a unique posture.
On both sides of the upper part of the bridge are male and female toilets. Due to the width limitation, we have designed a continuous folding wall. The male and female toilets are arranged in a folding interval. Within a reasonable bridge deck width, it not only ensures the connection of pedestrian flow lines on both sides of the bridge but also meets functional requirements. At the same time, a rhythmic virtual and real effect is formed inside the toilet.
The lower level of the building is equipped with a family bathroom, an accessible bathroom, and a storage room for agricultural tools. The roof level and toilet level are connected at three different elevations through stairs on both sides. The continuous wall surface of green tiles extends to the roof platform of the building and is arranged as some structures that can be enjoyed for sightseeing, forming a viewing platform. Two levels of circular portholes are set on the outer wall surface: the upper flat circular window provides lighting and viewing for adults, and the lower convex bubble window provides children with an interesting space for external observation and play.
The outer side of the entire building is made of rough bamboo formwork concrete walls completed by local workers, while the inner side is made of smooth locally produced green tiles, creating a contrast. During the construction process, the use of local materials and active cooperation with local workers and bamboo craftsmen are utilized to promote rural revitalization in China through on-site construction.
