This is Business Scene, I’m Ira Mellman.
A park in Tokyo Japan has added two new public
restrooms that feature transparent walls.
The restrooms remain see-through until people
enter, then the walls turn opaque once the
doors are closed.
Award-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban
is the designer of the unique toilets, the
goal of the project was to make them accessible
to anyone, regardless of age, gender or disability.
The outer walls of the toilets have a layer
of glass that remains clear when hooked up
to an electric current.
But when the door is locked, the current is
cut, and a special film makes the glass opaque
to conceal the user.
Cecilia Lopez, a travel blogger from Argentina
was very interested in the design.
Maybe I feel a little anxious the first time,
like will this work?
Is somebody in the glass trying to look inside
or something?
But I think it's more for the fun of it, to
really feel comfortable inside.
Kana Saji, a member of the Social Innovation
team of The Nippon Foundation explained the
reasoning for the design.
(When designing this) there are two concerns
when using Tokyo toilets.
First is whether it is clean inside and second
if there is anyone hiding inside, so if you
can confirm those it will be safe, so that
is why it was designed this way.
Amid the pandemic, 50 year old Hong Kong costume
designer and actor Edmond Kok, hasn’t slowed
down his creative process with the designs
of his custom masks.
The masks started gaining attention on his
social media platforms with each piece displaying
dramatic and playful takes on face masks.
The masks are made to represent current issues
occurring in the world, not for daily use.
A mask using a take-out container represents
the harm to the environment the pandemic is
causing.
I think every piece of art is originated from
our daily lives.
A lot of things in my life have inspired me
to make these face masks.
Take the coronavirus as an example, I've seen
a lot of pictures of this virus and it has
a lot of spikes.
It happened that I had some materials from
my cuttings which looked similar and so I
created this face mask.
Most of the masks were made without the use
of special materials.
Kok only used ordinary household objects and
leftover costume designs.
I really want to document different things
that happened in our lives.
I think this project is not only about the
face masks that I made, they are Hong Kong
people's face masks which record what happened
to us.
Kok hopes that one day the masks will provide
a reminder of what Hong Kong has been through
amid the pandemic.
For Business Scene, I’m Ira Mellman.
