Exemplified by the massive success of the Tokyo Toilets in Japan—both as public amenity as well as a talking point for creatively infusing public utilitarian services with design—the perception of public sanitation and allied facilities has seen a remarkable shift in recent years. Stalwart architects including Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban and Kengo Kuma were among the group of individuals tasked with turning decrepit and largely unremarkable public restrooms into architectural landmarks, propelling that shift. While the pandemic itself may have propounded conversations around their design from a public health perspective, there is a distinct sociality associated with public and community restrooms that stands quite latent, still, but bearing the potential to transform how individuals and communities experience urban environments. Wim Wenders’ film Perfect Days similarly explored this idea through the life of its quite protagonist, a Tokyo toilet cleaner, who revelled in the simple pleasures of life, including his reverence for his job, pointing to how thoughtful interventions hold the capacity for elevating routine monotonies.

Reflecting this shift in perception, NaaV Studio's latest project at Aina Retreat in Hyderabad, India uses its rootedness and grounding in the site's natural and cultural context to elevate a community restroom's design, transforming a rather minimalist intervention into an aesthetic pit-stop and a veritable public space in its own right by virtue of its thoughtful design.

The restroom intervention mirrors the ethos of eco-friendly architecture from the rest of the retreat, designed to materially and physically work with its context and the site. Sited carefully amidst a grove of mango trees, the restroom block's planning considers the permanent vegetation around its location and works its way around them. Though largely a singular cuboidal volume, its form is ensconced by its extensive foliage that can be read as a fluid extension, shading the structure and interacting with it spatially in myriad ways. As NaaV Studio states in the press note, “The siting of the restroom block was intentionally chosen to blend seamlessly with nature. Instead of clearing the landscape, the design works around it, allowing the trees to dictate the form.”

Materiality plays a crucial role in further grounding the structure and defining its physical identity. Rammed earth walls, built using the soil from the site, render the restroom's surfaces with an organic quality, allowing it to seemingly blend with the ground in tone and touch. The roof, constructed from humble mild steel and tin sheets, ensures—with a touch of minimalist efficiency—that both structural integrity and thermal comfort are maintained. Beneath, handwoven bamboo mats, locally sourced, stretch across the entire ceiling, diffusing sunlight and casting dynamic patterns of light and shadow throughout the day.

The standout for an otherwise understated intervention is a sculptural rust-hued granite sink that acts as a striking focal element, delineating the male and female restroom sections. The elongated sink, with a hint of Baoli architecture reminiscent in its cascading form, was worked upon by local artisans to lend it a monolithic appearance, however maintaining that it feels less like an "installation" and more like a "natural extension of the space itself", doubling up on the practice and retreat's commitment to sustainable design.

Beyond its relationship with the land, the Aina Retreat restroom subtly reflects Hyderabad’s rich architectural heritage, showcasing its interplay of masses and voids in the architecture, its material choices reflecting careful consideration of the balance between local materials and reverence. The slit-like openings, which allow air and light to filter in while maintaining privacy, nod to the region’s traditional courtyard designs that prioritise natural light and ventilation.

The limited scale of the intervention allows for a sense of measured control over various aspects of the project, wherein Sustainability emerges as something intrinsic to the design and construction of these restrooms. Local material and labour aside, the minimal landscape design interventions around it and a lack of industrial processes in its conception speaks to a frugality that is core to the building's longevity and the tenets of sustainable architecture. The community architecture embraces an earthy, tactile approach to sustainability, where materials are chosen not just for their ecological benefits but for their ability to age gracefully within the built environment.

The approach charted by NaaV Studio in bringing the retreat restrooms to life is one that treats the act of 'response' in architecture with care and respect, transcending the architecture's scale and its perceived (but limited) public utility. Material authenticity, inherent sustainability, reverence to the site and thoughtful design and construction practices make what could have been a simplistic 'for-purpose' stop into a well-intentioned little building with the potential to harbour additional acts of social engagement for its users.

Project Details

Name: Aina Retreat Restrooms
Location: Hyderabad, India
Designers: Varsha Reddy and Niharika Veerabommala
Landscape Design: Rohit Mirdoddi
Technical Consultant and Execution Partner: Kalakutumbh
Area: 1100 sq.ft.
Year of completion: 2024

(Text by Aditya Kumar, Intern at STIR)