Art World
China’s 12-Story ‘Toilet’ Building Defies ‘Weird’ Architecture Ban
It's hard not to see the design as a statement about the building's purpose.
A building that resembles a 12-story “toilet” was unveiled in Henan province recently, despite a ban by the Chinese government, announced this past February, on structures that are “oversized,” “xenocentric,” or “weird,” according to a brief report in The Independent.
The structure is in the campus of the North China University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power, “so it’s possible that the shape is a very unsubtle nod to their industry, but more likely it’s an oversight,” writes Christopher Hooton.
He claims it has “a clear bowl,” a “cistern” and “even a blue roof that doubles for toilet water.”
The original directive was issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet, and the Communist Party’s Central Committee, according to a report in the New York Times. Building should be “suitable, economic, green and pleasing to the eye,” according to the directive, which also called for an end to gated communities.
The Times said the guidelines came “two months after a high-level meeting to address some of the problems that have arisen as a result of China’s rapid urbanization. The last such meeting was in 1978, when only 18 percent of China’s population lived in towns or cities.”
The directive followed after commentators compared a design for the Bejing airport to a vagina and the headquarters for the Beijing People’s Daily, to a penis. Judge for yourself how unsettling these buildings were, below:
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