The Farmers Corner bathroom pavilion is a unique and award-winning restroom facility designed for the tourist-focused Farmers Corner retail and restaurant complex in New Zealand. The pavilion is designed to provide a memorable experience for visitors, offering a connection to the surrounding rural landscape.
Here’s a more detailed look at its features:
- Location and Design: The pavilion is located in front of the main building, extending the entry axis and leading visitors to the restrooms while also connecting them to the landscape.
- Cubicles and Privacy:The pavilion is divided into private bathroom cubicles with large fritted picture windows offering views of the surrounding fields and, in some cases, alpaca.
- Materials and Construction: The structure features a latticework of exposed glulam beams, Oamaru stone fins for privacy, and a glass roof supported by the engineered timber lattice.
- Vanity and Breezeway:A central, open-air breezeway with a 4-meter-long, double-sided stone vanity provides a space for handwashing after using the restrooms.
- Experience and Connection:The pavilion’s design aims to provide a positive and memorable experience for visitors, going beyond the typical expectations of a restroom facility.
The project has received several awards, including
2020 Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects Winner
2020 Canterbury Architecture Awards – Commercial Architecture Winner
2020 NZ Timber Awards – Highly Commended
2019 NZ Commercial Projects Awards – Gold Award
2019 NZ Commercial Projects Awards – Value Award
About Bathroom Glass
The complex is spacious and situated in a tranquil atmosphere with a scenic ambiance to the farmland and Southern Alps. It was essential to the project to provide both light and visibility of the outside surrounding while maintaining the visitor’s privacy. The combination of Oamaru stone, timber, and glass creates a connection between the building and the elements, integrating the building with the astonishing landscape.
Metro Glass helped design, engineer, project-manage, and install glass for this spectacular building. The Pavilion was constructed of an engineered timber structure to support a faceted glass roof with an overall roof size of 256 m2. The Glass roof was made up of 96 unique panes with the fascia having another 26 panes. There are 288 Spider fittings requiring 672 holes making this project extremely difficult and precise.