Toilet House Reboot
We posted a pic of this before, but here you have a guest post on the Toilet House!
What happens when you combine an architect, activism, and a latrine?
Don’t be alarmed. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you; that is a toilet-shaped house and it’s real.
Sim Jae-Duck, an architect from Seoul, Korea, is the mastermind behind this what some might call a masterpiece and others might call a master piece of s*** (pun intended). Surprisingly, the inspiration and meaning behind this $1.6 million home is a lot deeper than you might think. Sim has felt a deep connection to toilets as long as he can remember and even before that; his mother intentionally gave birth to him in a bathroom due to a family belief that bathroom births led to long and healthy lives.
Already in his 70s and still going strong, Sim took on the toilet house project with an activist purpose in mind. Sim, who is chairman of the organizing committee of the Inaugural General Assembly of the World Toilet Association, has been campaigning for clean and beautiful toilets since 1995 when he was major of Suweon Korea, when he spearheaded efforts to spruce up the country’s facilities before hosting the 1998 Summer Olympic games and 2002 World Cup. He says that 2.6 billion people live without toilets today – a problem he is trying to remedy, in part, with the toilet house.
The house was unveiled in 2007 as part of the annual World Toilet Association meeting. The “Toilet House,” as it is affectionately called, is the world’s only latrine-shaped building. Sim chose to build the house 30 miles south of Seoul in Sim’s hometown of Suwon after tearing down his former home.
Featuring two bedrooms, two guestrooms, and four deluxe toilets, including one in the center of the house with clear walls that fog up and play classical music when occupied, the house can be rented out for $50,000 per night. Visitors have to pay $1 for a glimpse of the “porcelain” wonder. All proceeds from the house go toward improving subpar bathroom sanitation in impoverished nations.
“The toilet revolution should start with talking about toilet issues freely,” said Song Young-kwon, head of the organizing committee at the time of the house’s unveiling.
The building has been aptly named Haewoojae, which translates to “a place of sanctuary where one can solve one’s worries.” Its steel, white concrete and glass construction emulates the feel and industrious nature of its real-life counterpart. At 24.5 feet tall, the second story of the toilet bowl opens onto the roof with a garden and includes a water collection system to conserve drinking water.
Dana Bashor is known for many things but most of all she is an actress, model, and singer. Dana has been working in the industry as a model and Actress for 5 years. She is currently running her own business as well as freelance writing on topics such as consumer awareness and astronomy. Dana currently helps contribute to topics such as planet antares for Wikipedia and other websites.
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Posted by You Live Where?
on May 24, 2012. Filed under All Houses, Oddly Shaped, Strange Mansions.
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How di you think of this design.?