`Haewoojae` literally means `a place where one can solve one`s worries` and this toilet bowl-shaped house is about to become a symbol for a movement that is aimed at solving one of the world`s most pressing problems -- toilet sanitation. Built by Korean National Assembly Rep. Sim Jae-Duck to commemorate the World Toilet Association General Assembly {WTAA} to be held Nov. 21-25 in the capital city of Seoul, the Toilet House epitomises everything that the World Toilet Association stands for. "We want the Haewoojae to change the unpleasant concepts surrounding toilets and the misperceptions about toilets. We should learn to go beyond seeing toilets as just a place for defecation, but also as a place of culture where people can rest, meditate and be happy," said Sim, who proudly calls himself `Mr Toilet`. He is also the chairman of the organising committee of the WTAA inauguration.



In a nutshell, the chairman`s goals in building this one-of-a-kind residence are to raise awareness about the importance of water and sanitation and, through fund-raising projects and dialogues with different groups, help provide toilets in countries lacking in proper toilet facilities. Apart from it being toilet-shaped, the Haewoojae has a toilet built right smack in the centre of the house. Overall, the two-storey house has four toilets equipped with advanced amenities. The centre toilet is transparent and everything can be seen from the living room. But as soon as a special sensor detects movement in the toilet, the glass encasement immediately fogs up so that the user can enjoy his or her privacy.

Designer Ko Kiwoong made sure that the Haewoojae was up to Sim Jae-Duck`s standards. After all, the place where the structure is now standing has been Mr Toilet`s home for over 30 years. The WTAA chairman tore down his old house and is now ready to live in his Toilet House, all for the sake of spreading awareness as to the importance of toilet hygiene and sanitation.




Mr Sim, 74, who said last month that his mother gave him birth in a bathroom, has actively campaigned for "clean and beautiful" toilets since his service as Suweon mayor from 1995-2002. His campaign has since turned many of public restrooms nationwide into facilities boasting paintings, fresh flowers or even small gardens. Mr Sim's house was completed before the Korea Toilet Association, which he funds, holds a forum in Seoul later this month to launch the World Toilet Association to take his campaign worldwide.



Sim Jae-duck, the chairman of the organizing committee of the World Toilet Association General Assembly, gave reporters their first look Friday inside the world's only "toilet house," Haewoojae, in the city of Suwon, south of Seoul. Built for the Nov. 21 inaugural meeting of the association, the two-story toilet house is set to be completed on Sunday as a monument to the porcelain god — as well as a symbol for the need for better sanitation worldwide.

Pinx Museum Duson Jeju, Korea / Gallery
Site Area: 775.60㎡ / BLDG Area: 220.65㎡ Structure: RC/ Exterior Finish: Steel, Glass

ITM

Gunwook Nam’s Human Pump is a clever solution to the world’s water crisis that captures kinetic energy generated from human foot traffic and uses it to power a system of pumps that bring fresh drinking water to the surface in a playful, dramatic and life-saving waterfall. One of three winners in the Re:construct competition sponsored by San Fransisco’s Urban Re:Vision, the project is a brilliant example of socially responsible design targeted towards communities without easy access to water.

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 4,500 children die every day due to a lack of clean water. In sub-Saharan Africa UNESCO reports that it’s women and girls who bear the brunt of the water crisis as they cannot go to school or earn extra income because they must travel up to six miles every day just to get enough water for their families to survive.

Nam’s Human Pump is essentially

a 12-meter-wide boardwalk designed to be placed in areas of heavy foot traffic, such as the main route to a school or market. Though the details are few, presumably kinetic energy from walking and playing would be absorbed throughout the day and stored, either mechanically or electrically. At some point later in the day the structure would have enough stored energy to pump water to the surface and trigger the transformation from boardwalk to waterfall/play area. by Daniel Flahiff


inhabitat

Elizabethan II House

By hiding all the cables, heating and air-conditioning ducts in a 4ft-high 'crawl' space between the floors of the Elizabethan House and installing revolving walls, the layout can be changed on a daily basis.

Owners have the option of making the ground floor completely open plan or separated into a number of rooms. The house has been designed in an Elizabethan style with the first floor projected over the ground floor ? in this case covering the main entrance and parking space. The black timber battens and white infill render of traditional Elizabethan and Tudor homes have been translated into a steel frame and other materials. The crawl space replaces an attic and provides plenty of storage as well as being an effective sound barrier for the bedrooms.


smal

Lithic Knot - Jeongok Prehistoric Museum
Movement and experience are the primary generators in this design for a Prehistoric Museum in South Korea by London based architectural firm poly.m.ur.
By: poly.m.ur

Jeongokri is one of the most important Paleolithic sites in the world. Lithic Knot is envisaged as a museum structure that is embedded into both the geology and landscape of the site. The design of the museum focuses on the creation of a building fabric that articulates exhibition spaces while connecting scattered outdoor programs across the entire site. The organization of the museum attempts to dissolve traditional boundaries by creating multiple points of connection around each outdoor program.

The museum thus emerges as a place for the interchange of people, experience and information. The twisted 'figure-of-eight' structure of the museum is intended to evoke the crude 'post and lintel' architecture of the stone age albeit with modern systems of construction and materials.


Polymur

Big Dig House Lexington, Mass., 2006
The structural system for this house is almost wholly composed of steel and concrete from Boston’s Big Dig, utilizing more than 600,000 pounds of recycled material, including pieces of the I-93 off-ramps. Large upper-level plantings blur relationships between interior and exterior spaces.



The Big Dig House in particular is an example of Hong and Park’s ability to take risks. They had been given the chance, by a developer willing to try something different, to design the Valentine Houses, a multifamily housing structure in Cambridge. A contractor in charge of destroying the residual materials from the Big Dig’s construction saw the Valentine project and contacted SsD. “He had a junkyard full of concrete and steel and this idea to recycle it into a house,” says Hong. Because Park and Hong’s client was willing to let his home serve as a research project, it was a success. Using over 600,000 pounds of recycled materials, the home has become a prototype for recycling large, heavy materials, and a bit of a curiosity in the area.

Single Speed Design

Four Houses and a Future
outside X-Small, the final piece of Schenk and Kim’s design puzzle, and hopefully their new home. Windows are strategically placed to maximize light and privacy.



Winner of Young Architects Forum, Architectural League of NY 2007

Chaewon Kim and Beat Schenk are partners of the firm UNI, whitch they founded in Cambridge, MA IN 2003. A desig/bulid company, UNI acts simutaneously in the roles of architect, bulder, owner, developer, and broker, seeking innovative design solutions, while addressing economic and zoning pressuress. The firm's most recent project includes four houses - XS, S, M, L - either renovated or newly built on a small lot in Cambridge, MA, that testand explore design solution to housing problems.


UNI , youtube

"White Noise/White Light," an interactive sound and light installation created by MIT Professor J. Meejin Yoon for the Athens 2004 Olympics, will be presented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from May 2-8 as part of the weeklong celebration of the inauguration of Susan Hockfield as MIT's 16th president.

Comprised of a 50' x 50' grid of fiber optics and speakers, "White Noise/White Light" is an interactive sound and light field that responds to the movement of people as they walk through it. What appears at first to be a static, neutral and transparent grid of vertical markers dissolves into a luminous sound-scape by night. As pedestrians enter into the fiber optic field their presence and movement are traced by each stalk unit, transmitting white light from LEDs and white noise from speakers below. If motion is detected, the white LED illumination grows brighter while the white noise increases in volume. Once motion is no longer detected, the light and sound fade into dimness and silence. Just as white light is made of the full spectrum of color, white noise contains every frequency within the range of hearing in equal amounts.

My Studio