Taksim Square is a place where time never stops; it is unstoppable as people, birds, machines are in subtle to drastic changes. In attempting to capture this change, the project started by mapping the perpetually changing square. Mapping needed careful observations and a detailed analysis of different actors, to later discern where and how to place a toilette amidst the square.

Despite the crowds passing day and night, the square inhabits no public toilettes. For toilettes that are conventionally in the unobtrusive corners of the city—even the word is avoided in every possible sentence in Turkish language— the mapping study suggested that the Taksim Square toilette must be unavoidable for the rebelling spirit of the square. Ceci N’est Pas Une Toilette, hence evolved in designing a both spatially and socially public toilette amidst the most crowded square in Turkey for the people in flux. The design of the toilette cabinets tried implementing city actors’ existing direction, speed, duration, and acceleration via reconfiguring the entrance and exist of the units.

Istanbul Technical University
Aslıhan Şenel

ceci n’est pas une toilette