The construction site is tucked under the Metropolitan Expressway and within a road area that has a large difference in elevation. The toilet’s roof is just below the overpass, and we also built a stone wall of roughly two meters high. Having tackled any number of issues up until completion, what we accomplished was huge given that we were able to address the challenges of selecting uncommon materials, and with fittings. Take the roof, for instance, where we used traditional “Minako” copper shingles. Although it looks simple at first glance, three-dimensional surfaces are everywhere, so we studied this intensely using models and 3D and had a carpenter who specializes in shrines take measurements on site while building a wooden base and roofing it with copper shingles.

Mr. Marc Newson, who resides in the U.K., is a very busy man, so just how we could closely communicate with him one e-mail at a time was an important issue. To the extent possible we put items to discuss in a visual and illustrated format, and summarized and translated into English as if they were presentation materials. Mr. Newson was flexible in considering our suggestions and alternatives, and his judgment of what was non-negotiable and what could be changed helped us clarify what we needed to do. The experience of receiving praise from Mr. Newson for our proposals and trial-and-error efforts to make things go smoothly, despite the hurdles of language and time difference, is an invaluable asset.