Damrak 70, studio 3.58

1012LM, Amsterdam NL

T: +31(0)20. 423. 3615

E: info@nezuaymo.com

construction site view

interior views

floorplan

POWER TOILETS

Client : Municipality of Heerhugowaard
Site : Heerhugowaard, Netherlands
Programme : public toilet, 55 m2
Team : collaboration with Superflex
Type : commission, completion May 2010

NEZU AYMO Architects and the Danish artists Superflex are realizing a toilet facility in the Dutch town Heerhugowaard that is an exact copy of the top level toilet facility in the UN Security Council’s toilets inside the UN Headquarters building in New York. The UN toilets have a very significant modern 50’s design - a lot of marble, yellow ceramic tiles, grey anthracite, equipped with American Standard. The exterior of the toilets will look incomplete or timeless - like backstage to a movie setting or like they have been taken out of a building.
When entering the toilet, it appears to be slightly different from other public toilets. Thus, standing in the UN-Headquarters toilets in Heerhugowaard you get a feeling of being in another time and place. By having this very clear difference on the in- and exterior we want to emphasize the reading of not belonging.
Furthermore, the UN Headquarters represent the power from which individual rights and peace are protected and maintained. By giving the public the possibility to use the Secretary General’s toilet, other questions surge, eg: What is the legitimacy of these structures? Do they represent the people? What do they mean to different people in different places? By transferring the most basic elements of this power structure we are distributing the idea of power and questioning hierarchical structures. Imagine how it would feel to use the toilet of Ban Ki-moon: Would you feel empowered?