LANTERNS
The conditions of the current sanitary facilities available to the students and the teachers at Dharmaraja are grossly inadequate in terms of the numbers and performance. They are also alarmingly deplorable with respect to their safety and hygiene factors, and exceptionally dreadful in their visual and sensory attributes. As clearly depicted in the images presented herewith, the existing toilet structures and their building components are almost falling apart due to inferior materials, detailing and workmanship. A very little thought has been given to the buildings’ maintenance and ageing needs, resulting in unclean-able surfaces, unhygienic fixtures, and unsafe appliances. Visually and experientially, these are places of inferior aesthetics, spatial unpleasantness and foul odorous, thereby traumatising the kids and adults equally. They are also hazardous to use with their slippery floor surfaces, dilapidating building elements, unsafe plumbing and servicing, exposure to weather and ground water, and limitations to natural light and ventilation. There are also grave concerns about the levels of privacy offered to the toilet users, especially for the female teachers whose tightly-spaced, singular-cell lavatory blocks (fitted with squatting pans) open directly towards the public areas frequented by the children. More than all, these toilet buildings are not designed to be welcoming and attractive, thereby keeping the kids away from them and the essential bodily function that they are supposed to be supportive of.
As such, the negative impact of the student’s poor sanitary conditions is much more significant than what these images portray. It has been said that the students prefer holding themselves till the end of the school to rush to the toilet facilities outside of the school premises, especially those that are in the Kandy City Centre. Some kids opt not to drink water during the school hours to eliminate the need to use the; school toilets; many others opt for the natural habitat. One way or the other, these inadequate and unhygienic toilet facilities affect the students health ethics, social contentment, and educational performance. On the part of the teacher community, on the other hand, it is a question of self-esteem, social dignity of their profession, and an apparent lack of gratitude extended to their cultural service. Therefore, this is a critical institutional and humane problem that must certainly not be taken for granted.
The new restroom design seeks to overcome the long-standing conventions and status quo of the school toilet by creating functional and hygienic spaces, coalesced with pleasing experiences for the senses. More importantly, it aims to be visually attractive and inviting to its younger users by creating a relaxed, cheerful and clean atmosphere that signifies a place to be and as opposed to a place that is felt to be avoided and repelled. In achieving the objectives mentioned above, the proposed sanitary facility relies on the following eight design principles.
Formally, to devise a playful structure, shape, material and visual impact without infringing on the integrity of the function or the economy of production.
2. Spatially, to generate a relaxing, open feel instead of being constrained and confined to dark, un-hygiene volumes.
3. Functionally, to impart a higher degree of privacy to different communities of users – i.e., students and teachers – while providing safer accessibility to fixtures and fittings.
4. Technically, to use versatile materials, easy-to-clean surfaces and durable construction methods, supported by energy-efficient mechanical solutions.
5. Environmentally, to rely on natural light and ventilation to complement refined interiors and exteriors that seek to blend into the landscape with the least possible impact.
6. Experientially, to string a sense of drama and playfulness, flooded with natural light and an interplay of diverse volumes, colors and textures.
7. Practically, to respond to the issues of security, hygiene and vandalism.
8. Culturally, to interpret as an educational space that builds social values, self- discipline, personal character and collective responsibility.
A key point of departure in the proposed architectural solution is recognising the public toilet as a design space; and embracing the creative potential offered by such a building activity. With its vaulted roofs, curved envelope and twisted orientation, the new complex is expected to create an atmosphere that is both peculiar and intimate, and an overall feeling of being calm and fun. Its interiors are as organic as the exterior, with partitions and fixtures conforming to the flows of the building shape. The building’s curvilinear theme is partly poetic but partly functional; the rounded corners of the walls, for example, are to avoid dust traps and inaccessible cleaning surfaces, which in-turn can farm malodour substances and bacteria.
The selection of materials and building systems – such as the Ferro-cement vaulted roof, prefabricated concrete floor purlins, exposed brick walls, perforated cement blocks, washed concrete floor finishes, cement-titanium wall screed, etc., – respond to functionality, cost-effectiveness, ease of maintenance, the grace of ageing and vandal-resistance. Ageing, in particular, is made to be part of the design, while painted surfaces are made to be limited by extracting colours from the natural textures of the materiality.
The building on-site placement responds to the existing land formation, retaining walls, public circulation paths and view lines, as a welcoming gesture to the surrounding environment. The lower envelope of the two-story building mass comprises exposed, masonry walls in organic, sculptural forms to imbue the necessary privacy requirements and visual allure. On the other hand, the external envelope at the upper level is cubic and composed of perforated cement blocks of circular holes, allowing natural light to penetrate inside, thus combining transparency with privacy. Blurring the boundary between the inside and outside, this layered solution bestows a sense of expansiveness and luminosity to the building.
Overall, this restroom design is expected to stir children’s interest while being safe, economical and practical. It also meant to be educational as much as it would be functional. To this end, learning programs will be introduced by focusing on the collective ethics of using, sharing, maintaining and caring for this public amenity. Suppose the real cultural development of a nation rests on its citizens & willingness to value, protect and tend for the public goods and interests. In that case, this school toilet can be the starting point in building that & responsible citizen.
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