Urban design: The Tokyo Toilets project

Toumei, by Shigeru Ban: A fresh new look at public toilets. Photo / supplied

Christchurch residents are familiar with the work of Shigeru Ban. After the earthquakes, he designed them a beautiful cardboard cathedral. But back home in Tokyo, not all his projects have been as devoutly inspired. Ban's Toumei is a public toilet, nice and brightly coloured, that the whole world can see into. The name means "transparent". When you go in and close the door, however, the walls become opaque.

The idea is to encourage safety and cleanliness. You can see there's no one in there before you enter; everyone else can see how much toilet paper you left on the ground when you finished. The colours also create a bit of street entertainment. Toumei, like Friedensreich Hundertwasser's toilet block in Kawakawa, has become a tourist attraction.

Two of the three cubicles are occupied: Toumei public toilets, by Shigeru Ban. Photo / supplied

If that feels a bit uncertain – can you really know the opacity is working? – there are other options. Ban's building is one of 17 toilets in Tokyo belonging to an art project called the Tokyo Toilet. Sixteen architects and designers have contributed and mostly they've had some fun.

Nao Tamura's Triangle is located on a tiny triangular sliver of land. Like many public toilets in Japan, it features three cubicles: one marked for men, one marked for women and a wheelchair-accessible one for everyone. The configuration of Triangle, with its three angled red panels, is inspired by origata, the traditional practice of elaborate gift wrapping.

Tamura chose the colour, she says, to convey a sense of urgency.

Triangle, by Nao Tamura. Photo / supplied

Kengo Kuma's Mori no Komichi, which means forest trails, is in a park and looks like a collection of randomly propped-up cedar boards. Behind them are five "huts", all decorated with cross-sections of tree trunks. You're in a forest, minding your own business.

Toilets in the forest, by Kengo Kuma. Photo / supplied

Then there's Hi Toilet, designed by Kazoo Sato, a white globe of purity, where you don't have to touch anything. Want to enter? You just say, "Hi, toilet." You can say it in several languages. Voice commands control the other functions as well: you can even tell the toilet what music to play. That's a feature said to have been popular in women's toilets in Japan since 1988. It's called "oto-hime", or sound princess.

Intrigued? No need to visit Japan to learn more about the Tokyo Toilet. The film-maker Wim Wenders is making a movie about it.

The voice activated Hi Toilet, by Kazoo Sato. Photo / supplied

Design for Living appears weekly in Canvas magazine.