Rural Public Restrooms Design + Build, China

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A group of UC DAAP students, led by Whitney Hamaker and Ming Tang, participated in the  “Yuzhang Construction*” workshop to design and build two public restrooms at the Pengyuan village, Yifeng County, Jiangxi Province of China in summer 2020. This workshop is a collaboration with Nanchang University (NCU),  Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU), and cooperates with the local village to carry out the 2020 public facilities construction. Due to the COVID-19, all design was completed through virtual collaborations. The first designed restroom is under construction, started in September 2020.

Project location: Pengyuan village, Yifeng County, Jiangxi Province, China

Project scope: design and construction of two rural ecological restrooms

Design activity: June-August, 2020

Construction: 09.2020- 12.2020

  • Faculty advisors: Fen Xiao, Qong Wu ( NCU), Yingdong Hu (BJTU), Whitney Hamaker, Ming Tang (UC)
  • UC Students: Sabrina Ramsay, Alexandra Steigerwald, An Le, Pwint (Audrey) Wati Oo, Nathaniel Liesch
  • NCU students: Mingxuan Wu, Ding Wang, Xiaohu Cheng, Meile Gui, Xianhao Xie, Hao Xiao, Jiayi Wang, Jiaoao Li, Mo Jia, Zheng Li, Yijia Wang
  • BJTU student: Cilu Luo, Zhu Cheng, Lurui Lue, Jiayi Xu, Xiangyu Zhou, Yudang Wang

The project won the First Place in the 2021 Asian Design Award. Sustainable Design category. 

Picture Taken by Fen XIao, NCU.  Photography Credits Go To Fen Xiao, NCU.

* “Yuzhang Construction” workshop was founded in 2018, initiated by the School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Nanchang University. Based on the concept of “innovation and construction,” the workshop works through the public welfare design and construction of social projects to serve the community and carry out a practical model of teaching. Through the construction activities of the mill building construction in Xikeng village in 2018, and the rice bridge building in Tianqiao village in 2019, students and faculties walked into the countryside to understand the rural, activate the countryside with design, and to help the local rural revitalization and sustainable development.

 

The project was also exhibited in 2021 DAAPcares and won the 2021 DAAPcares Sustainability award.